Blurred Bloodlines
by WhispersOfStarlight
Summary: Zola once had a vision of a new breed of Hydra soldier, a vicious creature fathered by his greatest creation: The Winter Soldier. What will Bucky do when he finds out that he has a daughter and that she is just as deadly as The Winter Soldier?
1. No More Secrets

Zola knew that the others didn't trust his judgement...of course they didn't. He wasn't the one to create HYDRA...that was all Schmidt's doing. And look what his madness had finally given him. An early death.

He would not be so easily defeated. See, to defeat your enemies, you must first know them...know their likes and dislikes...and their weaknesses.

And SHIELD...he laughed. He knew their greatest weakness.

They trusted far too easily.

HYDRA would flourish and the greatest part was that it would grow right under their noses and from their ranks they would pluck their soldiers. So as they weakened, as all host bodies eventually do, they would emerge stronger than before.

They would be unstoppable!

And if any opposed during their rebirth...well, that is what their asset was for. To silence those voices before they are heard.

It was either fate or luck that placed Sergeant Barnes within his grasp again. He was one of the more interesting specimens for him to have worked on. It was such a pity about the arm, of course, but with the technology that Schmidt had placed at their disposal, it was an easy fix.

He folded the white cloth covering the unconscious man and gave a pleased smile at the gleaming arm he revealed.

"Yes an easy fix indeed...and impressive too."

"Dr. Zola, we have the test results back."

The small man turned at the news and nodded. "Bring it here."

His assistant nodded and handed the clipboard over. Zola shooed him away with one hand before turning his eyes to the papers before him.

He smiled widely, "It would seem, Sergeant Barnes, that you are a perfect match. The serum will work. You should be proud. You will do great things in the name of HYDRA. Great things!"

It only took 12 years to figure out the greatest downfall of the program.

Not everyone was a match for the serum. That was severely hindering to HYDRA future.

He shook his head as he watched the footage from Serbia.

And not to mention disappointing.

They couldn't rely on just one soldier, of course, no matter how much of a success he was.

They were Hydra, if one died, two would rise in its place. He must fix it.

What if the conditioning didn't take or he failed a mission and was destroyed? He couldn't chance it.

He gave the order and the asset was frozen.

HYDRA was just finding its footing within SHIELD, it's rise to glory could wait a few more years.

Then it came to him one day as he was studying the blood samples of their new asset.

He noticed the serum was bonded tightly to the DNA strands and he laughed.

"Of course! What if the serum could be passed through the blood, or more specifically, the genetic make-up? As when a child is created."

It was genius. If the child was born with the serum in its blood, it would take to more serum without such violent side effects. The next generation of HYDRA soldiers fathered by his greatest creation.

He smiled and patted the cryostasis pod that held the Winter Soldier frozen in time.

"Like Adam, you will have your Eve, Sergeant. And from you both shall come the strongest soldiers to ever fight for HYDRA. You shall not be alone for long, my friend."

It took forty years and many failed attempts until Zola's vision of the perfect Hydra soldier would come to fruition and not by his design but rather through the design of the heart.

/ / / / /

BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!

The alarm that signaled a text message on his phone slowly brought Steve Rogers to consciousness and he rolled over in his bed to grab sleepily at it.

He turned it on, blinking the bright light from his eyes, before looking at who the message was from.

He sat up in bed, sleep completely forgotten at the name that popped up.

It was Natasha.

'New info on ghosts. Must read. File in inbox.'

His brow furrowed.

Ghosts?

He pulled himself out of bed and sat down at the table in front of a silver laptop.

When it powered on and he logged in, a notification popped up.

He clicked on the link and all of a sudden a video popped up.

Steve held his breath then let it out in a long exhale.

He clicked play.

It was a Hydra lab and in the middle was a young woman heavily pregnant laying on a bed, clearly in labor.

The young woman screamed and screamed at the agony coursing through her.

The nurses surrounding her were whispering in Russian to her, trying to soothe her but it was only when a cold metal hand touched her forehead that she finally quieted down.

There were still tears streaming down her face as she looked up.

"moya zvezda."

A low voice answered hers.

"mMy malen'kiy volk. Ot sebya."

She shook her head.

"I can't. It hurts too much."

"Ot sebya!"

He growled.

She nodded before gritting her teeth and baring down, until finally a tiny cry fills the air.

"It's a girl!"

The metal hand wipes over her cheek, brushing the hair from her face before nodding.

"khoroshaya devochka."

"Yes, good girl, indeed. You have done your job well, Syrena."

The young woman reached her arms out.

"Can I see my baby, please?"

"I suppose you may."

The mysterious man lifts the baby up and brings it close to her, but before Syrena could touch her baby, the man turned away and headed towards the door.

"Wait! You said I could see my baby?"

He stopped and chuckled darkly.

"Yes, but I didn't say anything about holding her, now did I?"

Syrena breaks down, sobbing at his words, causing the metal hand caressing her head to still.

The asset moves to stand and faces the other man.

The guards having seen this before, ready their weapons on the assassin.

The Winter Soldier advances on him, but stops when a gun is pressed to the child's head.

"Now, now, asset, I would think after all this time, you would know better than to try and threaten a superior officer, YOUR superior officer. Now this child is very important, but we could always wipe your mind and start over. Wouldn't you like that, the both of you?"

The Winter Soldier stops and immediately takes a step back.

"Now I must thank you both for your service to Hydra in this endeavor. Zola would've have been cross at the realization that he didn't need any special conditions, just an asset and his student to grow attached to one another. "

He turned to the guards in the room.

"Take them both! Wipe their minds and put them on ice. We do not know if this child will be a success for a few years yet. Better to have a failsafe in that event."

The Asset was rigid with rage..

He looked from the guards, to Syrena, and finally to the infant he had fathered.

He could only stare at the small wiggling form in Strucker's arms, as flashes of a little baby girl with dark hair flitted through his mind.

"Rebecca."

Baron Strucker looked at him with shock.

"What was that?"

The assassin grabbed his head and groaned.

"R-Rebecca."

The Baron smiled.

"Rebecca? You gave the child a name, did you? How quaint, seeing as she is coming with me."

Winter Soldier took a step forward again, but Baron only cocked the gun.

"I would so hate to have to start over again so soon."

The asset knelt to the ground and put his hands on his head.

"YA budu podchinyat'sya."

Baron Strucker laughed.

"Good dog. Still doing your master's bidding even when you are malfunctioning. Zola did an outstanding job on you."

Syrena sobbed harder.

"You bastard! Give me my baby back!"

Baron Strucker smirked evilly at her and motioned his head at the guards.

"Better yet, wipe only the asset. Let her keep her memories."

He turned back to her.

"Let this teach you, my dear, that Hydra will always be the one in control. Always."

He bounced the baby in his arms.

"Come, little one, let your future for Hydra begin."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve was breathing heavy, his hands shaking with rage as he braced them on the table. It took everything he had not to rip the laptop apart.

His friend had been used by Hydra time and time again.

A single tear slipped down his cheek.

When was Bucky going to finally be free?


	2. No More Lies

Steve was still shaking with rage when he left his rooms. He had gone over the rest of the info that Natasha sent him.

There was more info about the mother, the woman named Syrena.

Apparently she was found by The Winter Soldier when she was 7 years old. He had been sent to kill her father and leave no witnesses.

He spared her and trained her for the next 13 years.

Pierce and Strucker let him keep his 'pet'. They even injected her with the serum to make her as strong as him.

They ended up becoming attached to each other. So it was no surprise she became pregnant.

There were even photos of Syrena at each month in her pregnancy, probably to keep an eye on the baby's development.

One photo even showed a metal hand touching her swollen belly.

Cap smiled softly.

Even with his memory suppressed, Bucky was still showing through in the smallest gestures.

But there was only one little tidbit of info on the little girl.

'Rebecca.'

That's what Bucky called her.

'Rebecca.'

Not what those bastards called her.

'Child of Death'.

He was startled out of his thinking when the door across from his opened and Wanda stepped out.

"Steve are you okay?"

He inwardly groaned.

While watching that video, he had completely forgotten about Wanda's empathic abilities.

He steeled himself.

Steve was through with lies and had to tell them.

"Can you go get Sam and Scott. I have something to show all of you."

Wanda nodded her head and turned to leave.

She paused when Steve spoke again.

"Thank you Wanda."

"It is no problem, Captain."

She quickly left to find the others, visibly shaken by what she felt.

Wanda was both intrigued and terrified to find out what was causing the rage coursing through him.

'I wish Vision was here.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Sam knew it was bad the moment he laid eyes on Steve.

He crossed his arms.

"So you gonna tell us what's wrong or do you want us to guess?"

Steve shook his head.

"You remember how Nat dumped all of SHIELD and HYDRA's classified info onto the internet?"

"Yeah, aired their dirty laundry for all to see."

"Well, she found a encryption in Pierce's file."

"What did she find?"

"It details a secret project Zola was working on since Bucky became the Winter Soldier."

"What type of project?"

Scott interjected.

Wanda felt the anger flicker to life within him again until he took a deep breath and let it out in a slow exhale.

"Zola planned to use The Winter Soldier to father a new breed of Hydra super soldiers."

"Damn."

"Well, he can't, right? This Zola character is dead, right?"

Steve shook his head, "His physical body died but during the incident in Washington, Nat and I discovered a hidden bunker. In that bunker were giant data stores, each of them holding a piece of Zola's mind. That's how we found out about the Hydra infiltrators in SHIELD."

"So Zola has been in charge of all this?"

"Yes, at first but he must have passed the project to Strucker as a failsafe should the procedure to download his brain didn't work."

Scott looked confused at him, "So lemme get this straight...this guy..this Zola character literally downloaded his whole brain into a computer?"

Sam shook his head, "That's what you get from this?"

"Well, it just sounded so unreal, you know, like something out of a comic book."

"You wear a suit that shrinks you to the size of an ant and you're freaking out about that? Come on man."

Steve cleared his throat, "Getting back to the subject at hand...Zola was the first one to place Bucky in cryo about 70 years ago. He was taken in and out of cryo to do Hydra's bidding over that course of time. Around 35 years ago, he was sent to assassinate a SHIELD double agent. He completed his mission but only halfway."

Sam sent his a questioning look, "Halfway? How did he manage that?"

"During that mission he came in contact with a young girl. When he approached her, she stabbed him with a kitchen knife-"

Scott whistled at that, "Damn-oh..ahh...sorry Cap."

"...Instead of killing her, he brought her back with him and trained her for 13 years. She became just as an efficient assassin as him. During the last two years of her training they became lovers. "

Wanda had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Steven, why are you telling us all of this?"

Steve walked over to the large computer screen in the room, holding up a USB device.

"This was sent with the info Nat sent me. It seems Zola finally got his wish. 22 years ago."

He plugged the device in and pressed play before stepping out of the way.

Sam, Wanda, Scott and T'Challa watched in shock and horror at the birth, and at Strucker taking the child.

T'Challa was silent the entire time, his hands clenched into fists.

The sobs of the mother made his eyes close in sorrow.

This Strucker was a monster. How could someone rip a infant from its mother's arms so soon after birth?

Scott thought of his own daughter being taken away from him and was immediately filled with rage at the thought. but the rage was not only directed at Strucker. Hydra was starting to really grate on his nerves.

Sam shook with his rage.

'Those sons' of bitches'

That was an innocent baby not a weapon.

Wanda had a much different reaction.

"My god."

Steve watched her closely.

She was crying.

"Wanda?"

She didn't hear him at first. She only slumped down into the couch behind her, white as a sheet and shaking violently.

"Oh my god."

He tried to get her attention again, this time placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Wanda, you okay?"

She jumped.

"At the beginning we were told, my brother and I, that we weren't the only experiments Strucker was working on. We never heard anything more of them after that."

She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Then one day, they dragged Pietro back to his cell by his arms. He was bruised and bloodied and he was smiling. Smiling! I thought he had finally gone crazy. Until he started talking about the girl he just trained with. He said she was 'lunnyy svet' pure moonlight."

She smiled.

"He said he was in love, I told him he had a concussion."

Cap cracked a smile at her words.

She rolled up her sleeves to show the faded scars on her arms.

"I met her the next day and when I looked into her mind, I saw pain, so much pain. She forced me from her mind and attacked me. That's how I got these scars. She used her teeth like a wild animal. She only stopped when I mentioned Pietro."

Steve questioned her.

"Did you get a good look at her?"

Wanda nodded.

"Yes. She was just as my brother described. Moonlight. She had silver hair like him and pale skin, like she had never seen the sun. Her eyes though..."

"What about her eyes?"

"She was blind."


	3. In Depth

Steve was shocked.

"She's blind?"

Wanda frowned.

"She could not see as we do. The closest thing I can compare it to is night vision goggles, where you only see the green lights? Only she sees in different colors of light. It is how she was able to beat Pietro even with his speed."

Steve nodded. "So Strucker experimented on her too?"

She shook her head.

"No. She received no injections. Not that we could see of her. She was kept in a high security room with one of those vault doors."

Scott held up a hand.

"Hold on a second. Are you saying that they kept the kid locked up in a safe?"

"Similar enough. There was ventilation and she got fed twice a day through a hole. There were cameras all around her room and two guards posted at the door. They were watching her every move."

Sam snorted.

"Like a caged animal."

"To them, Sam, we were animals."

Steve crossed his arms.

"I have a question. Why did saying Pietro's name stop her?"

Wanda smiled.

"I think she liked him. She even started to go easy on him during training. Me too."

"Well, that settles it."

Falcon smirked and shook his head.

"So, we're going to rescue her?"

"This is Bucky's daughter we're talking about Sam. I have to try and convince her to leave HYDRA."

"I don't know, Cap. Bucky had lived a life before becoming the Winter Soldier. This kid didn't. She was raised by them, molded by them to be whatever they wanted her to be. Its' not going to be easy."

"It's worth a shot, Sam."

"And what if things go south?"

Cap turned to Wanda and smiled.

"That's why I am hoping Pietro will help us, if he's up to the task, of course."

Wanda smiled back.

"Pietro has been enjoying his quiet little vacation, but I think mentioning his 'malen'kaya luna' would bring him back."

Sam quirked an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

Wanda giggled, "It means 'little moon'."

Scott laughed.

"Man, your brother really had it bad for her, didn't he?"

"He still does. I am always finding little moons and stars scribbled on his letters to me. It is quite adorable really."

"Mushy stuff."

T'Challa laughed."It is not mushy to remember one that has given you light when all you had was darkness. That is affection."

Steve rubbed the back of his neck.

"King T'Challa, I do want to ask you a favor. A favor that you have every right to refuse, of course."

"If it is pertaining to taking Barnes out of cryo, consider it done."

The others in the room were floored by what he said.

With wide eyes, Cap spoke.

"Why did you say yes so quickly?"

The Black Panther brought his fists up and held them together.

"If it were my child, I would want to rescue them myself and make those monsters pay for their actions. Slowly."

"Thank you, King T'Challa."

T'Challa nodded his head in answer.

"I will go now and make the arrangements with the lab staff."

When the Wakandian king left, he turned to Wanda.

"Go call your brother. I'm sure he would like to hear your voice."

She nodded and left the the first time, Wanda felt nervous about calling her more so telling him about 'Little moon'.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

When Pietro had been shot in Sokovia, she had thought him lost to her forever, but Vision had reassured her that he was in fact still breathing but needed immediate medical , surprisely, Stark had paid for.

Perhaps he felt guilty for what had happened, not only to them but to their home as well.

Pietro hated hospitals so as soon as he could, he opted to stay at the Barton home for the rest of his 'slow' recovery.

She smiled and shook her head.'Slow to him was in fact 3 months. Whereas it should've have taken him a year to heal.'They of course talked to each other every other night.

Pietro had mentioned several times that he was enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside. He could run and run and there is no one to look at him like he was a freak.

And now here she was, about to shatter the idyllic haze surrounding him.


	4. Making a call

When Pietro had been shot in Sokovia, Wanda had thought him lost to her forever, but Vision had reassured her that he was in fact still breathing but needed immediate medical attention.

Which, surprisely, Stark had paid for.

Perhaps he felt guilty for what had happened, not only to them but to their home as well.

Pietro hated hospitals so as soon as he could, he opted to stay at the Barton home for the rest of his 'slow' smiled and shook her head.

'Slow to him was in fact 3 months. Whereas it should've have taken him a year to heal.'

They of course talked to each other every other night.

Pietro had mentioned several times that he was enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside. He could run and run and there was no one there to look at him like he was a freak.

And now here she was, about to shatter the idyllic haze surrounding him.

Ring-ring! Ring-ring! Ring-ring!

After another three rings, the other line picked up.

"Barton residence, Laura speaking."

She smiled.

"Hi, Laura, its Wanda."

"Oh, Wanda. Its good to hear your voice! I suppose you want to talk to your brother?"

"Yes, please."

Wanda could hear her gently set the phone down, opening the screen door with a creak, and just before she could finish saying his name, there was a woosh and he was there.

Laura laughed.

"Yes, Mrs. Barton?"

"Phone for you. Its your sister."

"Thank you."

His rich accented voice poured into her ear.

"Yes, my dear baby sister?"

Wanda rolled her eyes.

"Baby, ha! You are only older than me by a minute, brother dear."

"Yes, but I am far more mature."

"Compared to a four year old, yes."

He whined, "Wanda..."

She could feel the pout through the phone.

"And stop your pouting, you big baby."

He sounded shocked.

"How did you know I was pouting? It is as if you a physic or something."

"Pietro."

He stilled at the emotional tone to her was wrong.

"Wanda, what is it? Are you okay?"

"Its-its difficult to explain."

"Sure it is, start at the beginning, easy enough, huh?"

She giggled.

"There's a laugh. Good. I had thought it was something bad."

"The Captain needs our help to locate someone."

"Who?"

Wanda ignored the question.

"Black Widow sent him some files early this morning. There was something odd in them"

"Odd, how?"

"It was about a secret project Strucker was working on."

"I thought Stark had dug up al the info they had on us?"

"Not us, Pietro."

The other line had gotten so quiet at her word, she had immediately thought he had hung up on her.

"Wanda? It's about 'little moon' isn't it? Did they find her?"

A tear trailed down her voice sounded so hopeful.

"Well yes and no. We do not have the specific location yet, but-"

"Then why move now? If we don't have the exact location then they could end up finding out we are on to them and then she will disappear again!"

"Do you remember watching what happened in Washington D.C.?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with this?"

"The captain's friend from childhood was revealed to be alive during that mess."

"His friend is the Winter Soldier, Pietro."

"Damn."

"And he's little moon's father."

There was a thump and a muffled curse before Pietro spoke again.

"The Winter Soldier is her father?!"  
Wanda giggled.

"Yes, so when we find her, you better behave yourself or else..."

"Sister dear, do not joke about things like that. It's not funny."

She doubled over laughing.

"It is not funny, Wanda."

"Yes, it is. I wish I could've seen your face when I told you."

"Oh ha ha. Well you will be seeing my handsome face soon enough."

Wanda sobered up fast.

"Oh?"

"Yes, I have already arranged transportation to visit you. It WAS going to be a surprise, but with what you told me..."

"When?"

"I leave tonight. I should be there mid-morning or the afternoon at the lastest."

She was beaming with happiness.

"Then I will talk to you face to face tomorrow."

"Until then sister."

"Until then."

She ended the call with a wide smile on her face.

"It's been a while since I've seen you smile like that."

She whirled around and saw Steve standing at the door.

"Pietro is leaving tonight. He should be here by no later than tomorrow afternoon."

"How did he take the news?"

"He sounded so happy to hear about little moon. The news of her father though..."

"It threw him for a loop huh? I know the feeling."

"I know Pietro will do everything and anything in his power to help find her."

"I have been meaning to ask you about that."

"Hmm?"

"Just how well do you two know her?"

Wanda smiled sadly.

"Pietro was the closest to her out of anyone there. They were pushing him to go faster and her to use her abilities more. They both experienced a lot of torture at Strucker's hands. It created a bond between them."

Steve's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What kind of bond are we talking about?"

"They became lovers, Captain."


	5. Staccato Beat

Laura knew something was troubling Pietro as soon as he came outside.

He was always so happy and energetic, so when he sat down on the porch and just stared into the sky, looking so lost, she was immediately worried.

She nudged Clint, who was working on their truck.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Honey, I'm worried about Pietro."

Clint glanced over at the young man sitting on the porch.

"What, a guy can't sit on a porch?"

She smacked him.

"Clint, I'm being serious. He didn't start acting like this until after he talked to his sister."

He wiped his hands on the rag next to him and nodded.

"Alright, alright, I'm going."

As Clint approached Pietro, he noticed a few things.

First the kid was completely still and he always fidgeted, even sitting down.

Second of all, he had something in his hands, a little piece of rock, it looked like.

"Hey man, what's eating ya?"

Pietro jerked in shock, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Clint! I-I wasn't paying attention, sorry. Did you need something?"

Okay, now Clint was worried too.

Pietro usually never called him by his first name, instead opting for either 'old man' or 'birdman'.

"What's wrong kid? And don't say nothing or Laura will have both our hides."

Pietro handed the rock to Clint.

It was a crystal. With a smooth finish to its cloudly surface.

"It's a nice bit of quartz, where'd you find it?"

"Selenite."

"What?"

"Its not quartz. Its selenite. It was a gift.""Your sister?"The speedster shook his head.

"No, but still someone special."

'And there's the million dollar answer.'

"Girlfriend?"

"Ye-well, its complicated, you see."

"How complicated can it be? You like her, she obviously likes you, go get her."

Pietro gave a hollow laugh.

"She was another of Strucker's experiments."

Clint placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Damn. I'm sorry kid. What happened?"

Pietro shrugged his hand away and in a split second he was up off the porch and standing in front of Clint.

He was breathing heavily.

"Strucker made us fight each other to test our abilities. I was skeptical of her fighting prowess when I first met her because how could a blind girl, although paler than the moon and oh so very beautiful be as highly skilled as she was. Me, a speedster against a blind girl. I didn't want to hurt her and I told her as such. You know what she did?"

Clint shook his head.

"She punched me, nearly breaking my jaw."

"Well, it sounds like she can take care of herself."

"Yes, she can. I've seen it with my own eyes. We continued fighting for a solid hour. Continually pushing each other further and further until we both just dropped to the floor in exhaustion. I remember turning to her and saying, 'So 'malen'kaya luna' same time tomorrow?'"

Clint snorted.

Of course the kid would say something like that.

"She didn't speak, she just smiled at me. Smiled. I was grinning like a fool the whole way back to my cell."

Pietro chuckled.

"I remember Wanda telling me that I had probably hit my head too hard because clearly I had a concussion."

Clint laughed with him.

"Hey, look kid, I don't know what happened in that facility but it sounds like you met one hell of a girl."

"I did. She was the one who gave me the Selenite. It is named for Selene, the goddess of the moon. I always think of her and feel at peace when holding it."

"Like I said, one hell of a girl. But if your memories of her are so good, why so down?"

"The captain is going to try and rescue her."

Clint's eyes widened.

"Rescue her? Did you ask him to?"

The young man shook his head.

"No. Black Widow sent him some information on the Winter Soldier."

"And?"

"Apparently this Barnes is her real father."

"Well, there's some news."

"Exactly. That is why I am flying out to Wakanda tomorrow."

"Well, why not make the trip tonight and save yourself some time?"

Pietro smiled wide and was gone in the blink of an eye. He returned a few seconds later, dropping a bag at his feet.

"Well, then lets get going, old man."

Clint grumbled under his breath about punk kids having no respect as he made his way inside the house.

He had a few favors to call in.


	6. Back to Life

Twelve hours later, a quinjet breaks through thick fog into sunlight.

Within the jet, the light floods Pietro's eyes and when they clear, he finds himself staring out at the thick lush jungles of Wakanda.

His heart starts a staccato beat within his chest.

He was one step closer to finding her.

'I will find you, little moon. You will be free.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

The lab was a bustle of high energy when Steve walks in.

Scientists were preparing everything they needed for when Bucky woke up.

He hated that he had to do this when they haven't figured out how to remove the trigger words yet.

But he knew that Bucky would hate it even more if he wasn't able to help find his own daughter.

He smiled sadly.

Bucky had always loved kids.

Rebecca was the number one example of kid sister was the light of his life and he would've done anything for her.

He remembered the day Bucky blew off a date to spend time with her.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve and Bucky were sitting on the stairs just outside his apartment building.

'Where are you going?'

'Got a date with Alice Pendleton. You know the one, the curvy red-head? Going to take her to a picture.'

Steve shook his head at his friend.

'Can't describe gals by just their hair color and body alone, Buck.'

Bucky gave a gentle shove to his shoulder.

'She's a great gal. Got a great friend too, if you want to double up?'

'Can't today. Mom's got an appointment with the doctor today.'

Barnes put an arm around his shoulder.

'Tell your mom that we're thinking of her, alright?'

'She knows, but I'll tell her again. Thanks Buck.'

All of a sudden the door below them slams shut and little footsteps could be heard running up the stairs towards them.

Bucky smiles at Steve and shakes his head.

A whirlwind of dark curls and pale yellow fabric comes into view and jumps right into Bucky's arms.

'Buck-buck!'

Bucky picks her up, laughing, and gives her a tight hug.

'There's my favorite girl!'

Becky pecks him on the cheek and stands back before launching herself at Steve and giving him a hug.

Steve squeezes her back.

'Hi Becky.'

'Where are you two going? Can I go too?'

Steve shakes his head at her.

'Sorry, Becky, but I have to take my mom to the doctor. Maybe another time, okay?'

She turns to her older shakes his head.

'Becky, I have a date with Alice in 5 minutes. We'll do something tomorrow, okay?'

The little girl puts her hands on her hips and pushes her lower lip out in a pout.

'Now, Becky, sweetie, don't pout. I promise we'll do something tomorrow, okay?'

'But your my Buck-buck.'

'Yes and you are my most favorite girl in the whole world but I made plans with Alice yesterday. I would be very rude to her but not showing up.'

Becky sniffled.

'But I wanted ice cream...'

Steve smiled at the defeated look on his friend's face. It looked like Alice was going to have to smiled down at her.

'Well, then I guess we better go get some then, huh?'

Becky squealed and threw her arms around him.

'Oh thank you, Buck-buck. I love you.'

Bucky tightened his arms around his little sister.

'I love you too, sweetie.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve's eyes were blurred with was not more than three days later that Becky got sick.

The doctors all agreed.

Polio.

Due to it affecting the muscles in her upper body she had to be placed in an Iron Lung to help her breathe.

After a few days in the device, the doctors reevaluated her.

He would never forget how broken his friend looked when the doctors told his family that she wasn't going to get any better, only worse.

It was another few months before she passed.

That was the first time he had ever saw Bucky cry.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

He was startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder.

"Captain, are you alright?"

Steve rubbed a hand over his face before turning to face T'Challa.

"Yes, just, uh, remembering something."

"It seemed like a rather emotional memory."

Steve nodded.

"Yeah, it was."

"I am sorry for whatever it was that happened, Captain."

Steve smiled.

"Thanks."

T'Challa motioned to the cryo pod in the middle of the room.

"We are ready now."

"Then let's wake him up."

"Begin the reversal procedure!"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Wanda was reading in her quarters when there was a knock at her door.

She marked her place, closed it, and set it aside.

As she reached the door, she felt a familiar sensation in the back of her mind.

She smiled as the door opened to reveal her brother.

"Pietro!"

She threw her arms around him as he picked her up and spun her around.

"Sister dear."

"I thought you wouldn't be here until later?"

"The old man called in a few favors for me."

"That was very nice of him."

"I told him about little moon."

Wanda froze.

"Oh?"

Pietro was never one to openly talk about their time in Strucker's lab.

"Yes. It was after that that he agreed to get me here earlier."

They were interrupted by Sam and Scott walking down the hallway.

"Hey Wanda."

Pietro looked at the two men confused.

"And who are you two?"

Wanda pointed to them.

"This is Sam Wilson otherwise known as Falcon and the other man is Scott Lang, Antman. Gentleman this is my brother, Pietro.

Pietro chuckled.

"So another birdman and a bug."

Scott huffed and crossed his arms.

"Hey man. Not cool, not cool at all."

Sam just shrugged.

"At least its better than being a Speedy Gonzalez."

Pietro smiled widely.

"I think I like you."

"We got to go, Wanda. They're ready."

"Ready for what?"

"They are bringing Barnes out of cryo today."

The color fled Pietro's face.

"The, uh, man who was the Winter Soldier?"

Scott looked at the speedster in confusion.

"Say, you okay man? You look pretty pale all of a sudden."

Sam chuckled.

"Scott, what would you do if you found out that your girlfriend's father used to be an assassin? And on top of that, didn't know you were dating their daughter?"

Scott's eye widened.

"Ohhh man. That's rough."

Pietro crossed his arms and huffed.

"Yes, well, if you are all done having fun at my expense, let's go."

Wanda laughed.

"It is good to have you back, brother."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

The door to the lab opened as the procedure began, revealing Wanda, Pietro, Sam, and Scott.

Steve waved them over.

Pietro extended a hand to Steve.

"Pietro. Its good to see you again."

"Likewise, Captain."

"So, uh, you and the girl, huh?"

Pietro swallowed hard.

"Yes, well, I, uh-"

Steve shook his head, laughing.

"You don't have to explain, kid."

Pietro visibly relaxed at his words.

"At least not to me."

They all turned as a hissing sound filled the room signaling the opening of the pod.

Everyone watched as color and warmth returned to the frozen man's features.

Bucky groaned as he slowly came to consciousness and his eyes slowly opened.

They were unfocused and unseeing for a few seconds before clearing and he looked around the room momentarily confused.

Steve stepped forward grabbing his arm and helping him out of the pod.

"Bucky?"

Barnes turned to look at his friend.

"Steve?"

"Hey buddy."

"Hey. Why did you wake me? Did you get it fixed?"

They all knew what 'it' he was referring to.

The trigger words.

Steve shook his head sadly.

"Not yet, but they are still working on it."

Bucky stiffened in his arms.

"Then why?"

Steve took a deep breath.

"We need to talk, Buck."


	7. Out of Darkness

Natasha stood at a computer desk, guards unconscious at her feet as she typed away at a keyboard. She was scrolling through files she had just pulled up.

She shook her head at what she was reading.

'This isn't good.'

When she had first found that birth video, she had been only slightly shocked. She knew what bad people could do when they had 'good' intentions in mind.

The Red Room was proof of that.

It was part of the reason she sent it to Steve. No one else should go through what she went through.

A notification popped up on her screen.

'PROJECT: WINTER WOLF'

"Oh, like that isn't obvious. Who comes up with these names?"

She clicked on it and gasped. It was a picture of the baby, it had to be, but she was grown. She looked about 17 of 18 years old in this picture.

As she looked through the file, she found three more videos and a handful of audio files as well.

One such video file she found was titled Project Compromised.

Nat wished she hadn't of clicked play to that one.

It showed the girl and Pietro in a rather intimate embrace.

She shook her head and clicked out of the viewer.

'Kids...'

Nat clicked on the file that was connected to that one.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

'Project Update: Project Compromised.

Cause: Project Volunteer: Pietro Maximoff

Reason: Emotional Attachment.

Outcome: Sexual Copulation

Punishment: Beating, 12 hour Cold Confinement, and electrical Stimulation.

Should Relapse Occur: Opt for Sterilization.'

Natasha quickly closed out of the file."Damn it."

A noise behind her caught her attention. She quickly plugged in a USB device and started downloading the files.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to send a few shots its way. The shadow ducked down and rolled away.

"You know its rude to eavesdrop, right?"

When the dark shape stepped into the light, a tiny thread of panic ran up her was the girl.

She was wearing a mask similar to the Winter Soldier, but the rest of her outfit was similar to hers, slimlined and hugging her form. Her hair falling to her hips in a thick braid.

And she was aiming two pistols right at her.

The computer beeped. The download had finished.

Nat shot a glance at the card and back at the girl. She needed to get that card and get out of there...in one piece.

"I really don't want to fight you, kid."

The kid was silent, watching her through narrowed eyes.

"Sdacha."

The Russian word hit Nat like a ton of bricks.

'Surrender?'

"Sorry kid, I've got places to be and people to see."

She sent a electro-disk flying at her, hitting her square in the chest, dropping the girl to a knee.

She grabbed the device and bracing her hands on the desk, flipped over the computer.

When she landed, she ducked low, using the desks as cover while she moved towards the exit light at the other side of the building.

The girl didn't make a sound when the disk hit her. She only tilted her head down at it, yes it hurt, but pain was a familiar sensation that her mind could shut down if it needed to, so she pushed it aside and stood up. She ripped the disk off her chest and threw it to the ground before raising her guns and sending a wave of bullets across the room.

Natasha ducked into a cubicle as the bullets tore past her, one grazing her shoulder causing her to drop her pistol.

She pulled out her phone and wordlessly typed a message to the Captain.

'Found girl. Targeting me. Will dump info in old location. You know which one.'

She tucked the phone back in to her suit and picked her pistol up, placing it back in its holster. She needed to subdue the girl not kill her.

Her wrists' lit up. 'Hope this works.'

"Sdacha."

'There she goes again with the whole surrender thing.'

Soft footsteps grew louder as the girl walked closer. 'Just a little closer, kid.'

Nat pressed herself against the cubicle wall. She could see the shadow of feet pass under the gap between the temporary wall and floor.

Natasha spun and lashed out only for her hand to be caught.

'What the hell?' The girl couldn't have seen her hide here. There was hardly any light the further you went into the building.

Nat locked eyes with the girl and was shocked to see the colorless eyes looking back at her.

She was blind. Relying on only her senses of sound and touch to guide her movements.

'Damn.'

The girl raised a pistol at her and only quick thinking saved Nat as she kicked a foot up into the bottom of the gun and sending it flying into the air.

She punched forward and connected her tazer with the girl's neck.

The girl convulsed but still did not make a sound. She shook the pain from her mind, wrapping her hands around Natasha's wrists and pulling her close. Her head flew forward into Nat's face, connecting and knocking the older woman back a step.

Nat threw a knee up into the girl's abdomen at the same time twisting her hands out of the iron grip they were held in before spinning into a roundhouse which connected to the side of her face, knocking the mask loose. The girl shook her head and her eyes hardened in anger.

Nat came forward just a step and used the girl as a platform to flip backwards away from her.

She quickly took a few steps backwards towards the exit, keeping her eye on the girl as she got closer to escape.

The younger assassin reacted by grabbing at her boot and pulling a long knife out. She flipped it in her hand as she advanced on Black Widow, fury in her eyes.

Nat shook her head. "Oh kid, you are too much like your father."

The girl stilled mid step.

"Batya?"

Nat continued walking backwards, until her back hit the door.

She mentally breathed a sigh of relief when her hands tested it and found it unlocked.

She bought herself some time by replying to the girl's questioning tone.

"Yes, batya, your father. I know him."

The girl paused, looking down at the floor a moment before lifting a hardened gaze to her.

"I have no father."

Nat almost cried. This girl needed help.

"There is only HYDRA!" She screamed, sending the knife flying as Nat threw a yellow disk at the floor.

It exploded in a blinding flash and when it cleared, The Black Widow had vanished.

The girl narrowed her eyes before a voice sounded in her ear.

"Mission Report?"

"Missiya nedostatochnost'."

"Return to base for your punishment."

"Utverditel'nyy."

She paused for a moment and looked at the blood on the door, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Batya?"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Natasha stumbled into an empty apartment a few blocks away, clutching her shoulder.

Blood poured from the wound and dripped onto the wooden floor as she pulled the knife free.

"That kid's good. Too good."

She rifled through the bedroom closet and pulled some clothes out.

She sighed. "People really need to start carrying clothes in all sizes. It makes it so difficult picking out an outfit sometimes."

She had to disappear.

When the owner of the apartment returned the next morning, they found a couple of bloody twenties and a quick little note typed on their laptop.

"Thanks for the clothes."


	8. Rebecca

Bucky was floating in nothingness.

He didn't have to worry about hurting anyone, about hurting Steve. He was calm and peaceful at last. Then warmth spread through his limbs slowly. It was like a hand grabbing a hold of his conciousness and ripping it upwards and out of its frozen cage.

When Bucky opened his eyes, he had panicked momentarily. Flashes of that facility in Siberia rushed through his mind. The pain and anger and terror as those damned words tore what little humanity he had apart and pieced him back together a monster.

A dog to do their bidding.

Then Steve was there, his voice keeping him grounded to the here and now like an anchor in a storm.

His eyes finally focused and he was back.

He was in Wakanda.

He groaned as Steve helped him to the cot that had been placed nearby. He laid back and sighed deeply before scanning the room and finding a few familiar faces at the door.

Sam gave a quick wave.

"Steve?"

"Hey buddy."

His own voice echoed in his mind.

'I can't trust my own mind, Steve. I think the best thing is for me to go back under. At least until they can find a way to fix me.'

His body thrummed with anticipation and hope filled his eyes as he looked up at his friend.

"Why did you wake me up? Did you get it fixed?"

Steve's eyes fell.

"Not yet, Buck."

Horror caused him to stiffen in Steve's arms.

'Not yet?'

He was still a ticking time bomb then, all it would take is for the trigger to be pulled and he would explode, hurting more people.

"But why?"

Something shifted in his friend and when he looked closely at him, he noticed Steve was shaking with emotion.

"We need to talk Buck."

His heart plummeted to his stomach and all he could think of was, 'What now?'

His eyes fell to the floor dejectedly.

"What did I do now?"

Steve shook his head.

"Nothing. Its what was done to you that we want to talk about. What do you remember?"

Bucky tapped a finger to his temple.

"This is all a big mess in here, Steve. I can only remember in snippets of words and sensations. And they're not good ones either."

"Are there any good ones?"

Bucky stilled and slowly turned to look his friend in the eye.

"What are you talking about?"

Cap shifted from foot to foot before holding up a disk.

"Natasha found some files on you, well, on the Winter Soldier."

"I don't want to see it."

Steve opened his mouth but was cut off by Bucky.

"No, I already have enough nightmares to last me two lifetimes, Steve. I don't want to add to them."

"You have a daughter."

Bucky's eyes widened and his face drained of all color. He had a daughter? But how, when?

"W-what?"

Steve nodded.

"But...how?"

His friend held up the disk.

"There is a video file on here that shows her birth."

"Put it in."  
Steve paused and looked at his friend with a discerning eye.

"Are you sure? It doesn't end well, Buck."

A rough, low voice growled at him.

"PUT IT IN."

A computer screen lowered from the ceiling and Bucky steeled himself.

'It doesn't end well, Buck.'

What happened to her?

Steve handed the remote to him and place a hand on his shoulder.

"When you're ready, bud."

He took a deep breathe, raised the remote and pressed play.

That lab he knew well enough. They twisted and beat him into the Winter Soldier in that lab.

His fist clenched around the remote so hard it cracked.

When he saw the woman's face a twinge of familiarity hit him.

'I know her, but from where?'

He saw himself as the Winter Soldier comfort the young woman, heard himself utter the words, 'Ot sebya.'

'Push.'

Then the tiny cries of a baby filled the air, filled his ears and his chest ached at the sound of his daughter.

His daughter.

Then everything went to hell.

He could only watch in mute horror as his former self relapsed and uttered a single name.

'Rebecca.'

His eyes filled with tears.

'Get her! Kill him...kill him and save your daughter, our daughter! No! don't comply, you damn idiot! Fight them! Fight it!'

He yelled in his head as he watched himself kneel down like a good dog.

'YA budu podchinyat'sya.'

Then Strucker walked out the door with her in his arms talking about her future with HYDRA.

'Rebecca.'

The remote in his hand shattered at the same time his heart did.


	9. Aftermath

"We made a mistake."

Sam looked over at Wanda and saw her cheeks were wet with tears.

"We should not have woken him up."

Pietro laid a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"He had to know, Wanda. It would've been much worse if we hadn't have woken him up before finding her."

She sniffled and nodded before looking up at him with a smile.

"When did you become so wise?"

He smirked at her. "I've always been wise, sister, I just like being a pain in the neck."

Sam chuckled.

"Well, you might want to rethink that approach with Bucky."

The speedster rubbed the back of his neck."Yes, well..."

Wanda giggled at the pained look on his face.

Sam bumped his shoulder into Pietro.

"I'm just messing with ya, kid."

Scott shook his head and laughed.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Bucky still couldn't believe what he just watched.

He had a daughter...and her name was Rebecca. He wanted to both laugh and cry at the irony of it all.

His little sister Becky was the light of his world and she was ripped away from him and now the same thing happened to his little girl.

Fate must really hate him.

"What happened to her?"

Steve sighed.

"Nat is working on it as we speak. It's been 17 years, Buck. The girl-"

Bucky was struck numb by the news.

'Seventeen years?'

His daughter has been under HYDRA control for 17 years?

His hands clutched the sides of the cot, his left squeezing the metal so hard it bent under his hand.

Steve's phone decided to go off in his pocket, pulling him from his rage momentarily.

'Found the girl. Targeting me. Will dump info in old location. You know which one.'

Steve's eyes widened.

'Nat found Rebecca?'

Bucky looked at his friend's face worried.

"Steve, what is it?"

"Nat just found Rebecca. Well, more like Rebecca found her. HYDRA sent her after Nat."

Rage boiled through Bucky's veins.

"Steve, tell me the truth...did they turn her into me? Into the same thing I was? Into a killer?"

The pain that filled his friend's face hit him hard.

'No...'

He shook his head.

"Damn it!" He sent a medical cart flying across the room.

All of a sudden a blur of blue and silver skidded to a stop beside Steve.

"Did you just say that Black Widow found her? She found 'malen'kaya luna'?"

Bucky's eyes narrowed at the young man in front of him.

'Little moon?'

"Just who the hell are you and why are you calling my daughter 'little moon'? Her name is Rebecca, damn it!"

The young man stilled, turning slowly to face the former assassin.

He squared his shoulders and glared at Bucky.

'If I'm going to die, at least it won't be as a coward.'

"I was one of the only friends your daughter had while she was under the thumb of Baron Strucker. I gave her that nickname because that is what she is to me. A pale moon, shining pure light into the darkness."

Bucky stood up, a deadly look on his face.

Steve held a hand to his friend's chest.

"Buck? Calm down. He's here to help us find her."

Buck glared.

"That may be so, but that doesn't mean I trust him one bit."

Cap chuckled.

"What's so funny, Cap?"

He shot a smirk at his friend.

"Just thinking of all those gals you dated back in the day. I bet this is exactly what their fathers' went through too."

"Shut up, punk."

"Never, jerk."

Pietro looked back and forth between the both of them, feeling for the world that if the Captain hadn't stepped in, he might not be standing there still in one piece.

"Hey Steve, you didn't tell me what happened to the mother? To Syrena?"

"I don't know, the file I have now just said that she was your protégé from a botched mission. You trained her for-"

"Thirteen years."

Just then a memory struck him like lightening and shook him to the core.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

 _"Again!"_

 _They circled around each other, each sizing their opponent up._

 _It was supposed to be a typical training day, but that day he noticed something different about his charge._

 _She was pulling her punches, barely tapping him._

 _He hit her hard in the stomach, dropping her to her knees on the floor._

 _"Hit harder! Or I will break your arm next!"_

 _The young woman looked up at him, anger flashing in her eyes. She flipped back to her feet and threw a punch at him, then she dropped quickly and swiped at his legs with hers, causing him to stumble back a few steps._

 _He tilted his head at her in abject pride before squaring his shoulders and advancing on her._

 _She visibly shivered._

 _He threw a metal fist towards her face, which she dodged by ducking down then kicking her legs up and wrapping them around his neck and locking the cybernetic arm to her chest with both arms. She threw her full weight at him which caused him to stumble again. When he was off balance she pulled back and flipped him over, pinning him to the ground and dislocating the elbow of the metal arm._

 _His arm whirred and grinded before finally the joint clicked back into place. He threw his elbow into her stomach, before reaching up and grabbing her throat before rolling over and reversing their positions. His heavy weight settled on top of her slim, featherlight frame, her legs splayed out on either side of his hips._

 _They both stilled as their eyes locked._

 _She looked up at him with wild eyes, her chest rapidly rising and falling as she struggled to catch her breath._

 _That was when he noticed that he was breathing as heavy as her._

 _Then she did the unthinkable._

 _She fisted both hands in his hair and pulled, slamming their lips together, and drawing blood from his lips._

 _She kissed him._

 _And he kissed back just as hard._

 _The copper tang in his mouth had never tasted sweeter than in that moment._


	10. Punishment & Fighting

A large metal door creaked as it was pulled open and a small figure was tossed inside. It hissed as it closed behind her.

The small shaking figure drug herself across the cold concrete floor until it reached a small, torn up mattress in the far corner. She pulled an old, crocheted blanket over her bruised and bloodied body, wrapping it tight around her, letting out a small hiss of pain as it tugged on the fresh bandages across her back. When she was done wrapping herself in the blanket, she grabbed the little teddy bear next to her and held it close. It was the only other comfort she was allowed. The little bear was in rough condition, missing an arm and the little blue coat it was wearing was falling apart. But it was the only friend she had.

Her Buck-buck.

Most nights she would hold it close and pretend she was somewhere else. That she was someone else.

But she never cried, she couldn't anymore. They saw to that.

HYDRA's methods of punishment were always severe.

They suffered no failure and this time was no different.

She had failed to subdue the Black Widow and retrieve the files, so on top of the usual beating, she also had to undergo a series of injections that simulated being bitten by a black widow spider. It was not designed to kill her but to teach her their newer methods of inflicting pain.

Her skin still burned and itched in certain spots, but after 3 hours, she was finally let go.

She thought back to what the older woman had said to her.

'Kid, You are too much like your father. I know him.'

'Who is my father?'

She rememebered once asking Strucker if he were her father.

"Me? Your father? Hah! I could never father an animal such as you. It takes a special breed of monster for that."

His words stung but didn't deter her from her questioning.

"Who is my father?"

She remembers the sting his hand left on her cheek.

"Your father was a dangerous animal that would sooner kill you than care for you. Now you are to no longer ask about him, that is an order. Am I clear?"

"Yes, master." Strucker patted her head at that.

"Good girl. Now I have a treat for you."

Her insides twisted.

"What is it?"

The Baron motioned to the guards at the door and when it opened, her eyes darkened.

That was when a brilliant white light outlined in blue filled her eyes.

Whoever it was had undergone Strucker's genetic enhancement procedure.

The light whirled and twisted, taking the shape of a teenage boy, maybe a year or so older than her. She could make out the shape of a long lean body and shaggy hair down to his shoulders, but when he lifted his eyes to her, she swallowed hard.

His eyes were a pure blue brilliance that sparked in the darkness of her eyes.

No one else in the facility had eyes like that.

The pale blue light that made up his lips curved and one eye closed briefly. He winked at her! Her cheeks suddenly felt too warm.

She narrowed her eyes at him, wiping the smirk from his face.

"This is one of our newest volunteers: Pietro Maximoff."

'Pietro...' It sounded Russian.

"You two are to spar with each other. I want to see you both pushing yourselves to the brink of exhaustion. Show us what you can do."

The young man finally spoke, his rich accent sending a shiver down her spine.

"I am sorry, Baron Strucker, but I cannot fight this girl. She is blind, correct? I cannot fight a blind girl, it would be far too one-sided, don't you think?"

She was scared and confused at the effect he was having on her.

'What is wrong with me?'

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed Strucker's reply.

"Herr Maximoff, I think you might want to think twice about making her upset. She is far more skilled than you think."

"I don't want to hurt her."

The girl snarled and moved forward and slammed her fist right into his jaw, knocking him back a step.

"Well, that was unexpected. Alright, little girl, you're on."

She smiled widely.

'This was going to be fun.'

All of a sudden, he disappeared.

She stilled.'What?'

Then an arm in her back hit her full force and sent her flying forward.

Luckily, she had quick reflexes to save her nose from smashing into the floor. She tucked in and used her hands to vault herself forward, flipping mid-air and landing on her feet.

"I have to admit, you have nice moves. For a little girl."

Anger coursed through her veins and she spun a foot around, only for it to hit empty air.

"Oh, that was close. Good try."

'Super speed, of course.'

That's why he was seemingly in front of her and behind her at once.

She threw open her eyes wider and let the light flood into them.

'Now try running, speedy.'

He flashed up behind her and this time she was ready. Before he could touch her, she threw a foot back and up into his chest, before spinning around and punching him square in the nose.

"No more running now."

His voice was shocked and a little muffled from his hand holding his face.

"How are you doing that?"

She huffed and sent a kick at him again, which he dodged, sending a fist into her jaw.

They traded blows like that for what seemed like hours until they both just dropped to the floor.

He smacked her on the shoulder before slumping back, gasping for breath.

"You...are...very good...at fighting."

She kicked him in the side, struggling to fight through her exhaustion, but finally she gave up and laid there, breathing heavily.

The young man turned his brilliant blue eyes to her and smiled tiredly.

"So 'malen'kaya luna,' same time tomorrow?"

Something fluttered in her chest at the nickname.

'He gave me a name...'

She smiled brightly at him.

'I have a name now.'

She smacked him one more time causing him to laugh.

He had a nice laugh.


	11. Memory & Trust

Steve noticed the far-off look on his friend's face and was immediately concerned.

He placed a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to the present.

"I just remembered something."

Steve's eyes widened, "Was...was it bad?"

His friend gave a small smile.

"No, it was...nice. Better than what I usually remember. Syrena and I were sparring like usual, but that day was different. She was pulling her punches, not really landing any hits on me, so I threatened to break her arm."

He raised his left hand.

"She ended up dislocating my elbow and pinning me to the ground."

"It sounds like she was well trained."

Bucky nodded.

"I trained her for thirteen years, Steve. Thirteen years! She was just as good if not better than me. I damn well made sure of it."

Steve crossed his arms.

"So what made an ordinary training day so special?"

"We kissed. Or rather she kissed me."

"Oh."

At Steve's shocked face, he smirked.

"Among other things."

"Buck."

"I know, I know, I'll keep it to myself, wouldn't want to damage your delicate sensibilities."

"Jerk."

"Punk."

Sam's laughter filled the room.

"Oh man, you two bicker like an old married couple."

"Shut up, wings." Bucky shot back.

"I hate you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know."

"Alright, you're an asshole."

"Really? I said something I don't know. I already knew that."

Sam waved him off.

Bucky turned to his lifelong friend.

"What's our next course of action, Cap? When do we go after Becky?"

Steve nearly cried at the nickname.

His friend was starting to sound more and more like his old self and he couldn't be happier.

"First we have to make a trip to D.C. If we are to rescue both Rebecca and Syrena, we need those files."

Steve turned to the others.

"Sam, I need you and Scott to stay here and go back over the files I have on Syrena. See if there's anything hidden that we're missing."

The two men nodded in agreement.

Scott motioned to Sam.

"Come on. I have a few buddies that owe me a favor. I'll see if they've heard anything."

A few moments after they left, Scott peaked his head back in.

"I'll give Dr. Pym a call too. Maybe he can help with any incryptions? If that's alright."

Steve smiled.

"The more help, the better, Scott. Thanks."

Antman waved them off before ducking back out the door.

Wanda stepped forward.

"What do you want Pietro and I to do?"

Bucky crossed his arms, glaring at the young speedster.

"You can come, Wanda, but he stays here."

Pietro took a step forward, "Now look-"

Wanda's hand gripped his arm.

"Pietro..."

"I don't know you and frankly that doesn't help your case any."

Steve shook his head.

"Bucky, they have both spent more time with Rebecca than us. They know her and she knows them. It would help to have them there."

Pietro mouthed a silent thanks to the Captain.

The former assassin deflated at Steve's words before standing groggily to his feet.

He wavered a bit but kept himself upright.

"So when do we leave?"

Steve smiled.

"Suit up. We leave in an hour."

/ ~ / ~ /

An hour later saw Steve, Bucky, Wanda and Pietro seated in the back of a quinjet on their way to D.C.

Pietro sat across from Bucky, who glared death his way.

He swallowed hard.

'Well, this was going to be a lovely trip.'

"Bucky, I think you're making him uncomfortable."

"Good," he growled before turning his gaze back down to the knife he was polishing in his hands.

Steve chuckled before turning back to the controls.

Bucky could only think of the horrors he could remember HYDRA inflicting on him and his chest ached.

'We're coming Becky. Just stay strong a little longer.'

/ ~ / ~ /

"We're getting close to D.C. airspace. I'll have to set it down on the outskirts."

Steve yelled back.

Bucky stood up and stretched, grabbing Steve's chair to keep himself upright.

"The jet will still get spotted, won't it?"

Cap shook his head.

"Not where I'm putting it."

He clicked a green button right above his head.

"Hill?"

"A female voice sounded on the other line.

"Cap? What do you need?"

"Open the hangar door. I need to hide a quinjet. I have to stay out of the public eye for the moment."

"Wilco, Captain. See you on the ground."

The ground below them cracked apart, revealing a large opening which Steve lowered the Quinjet down into.

Bucky smacked his friend's shoulder.

"What is this place?"

"It's where I hide after the Bridge Incident, when I found out you were still alive. You tried to..."

The assassin's face fell.

"I'm sorry about that buddy."

"I know. I knew it then too. That wasn't you."

Steve gently landed the quinjet and clicked a series of buttons, effectively shutting the engines down.

He climbed out of the chair and grabbed his friend's shoulder.

"Now let's go get those files and find your daughter."


	12. Almost There

If Hill was surprised at the sight of the once Winter Soldier walked down the ramp alongside the Cap, she didn't show it.

Her hand of course rested on the pistol at her hip...just in case.

Her and Cap shook hands. She nodded to the others.

Bucky nodded back.

Pietro and Wanda each gave a slight wave.

"Hill, thanks for this."

She shook her head.

"No problem, Captain. Did you need anything else?"

Steve ran a hand through his hair as he answered, "We need vehicles."

Hill turned and motioned them to follow her.

"This way. You can take your pick."

When she got close to a large metal section of the wall, she pushed the red button right next to it, causing it to turn green.

A whirring sound filled the air as the metal section lifted up to reveal a large garage area.

Bucky was floored. There had to be twenty-odd vehicles crammed into the garage.

"Damn."

Hill smirked.

"Oh this is nothing. This is only one of many safe houses."

He turned to her shocked.

"Not even Hydra had this much access to anything."

"Well, its Hydra, right?"

Bucky didn't reply, he only looked back at all the vehicles lined up in the garage.

Steve smiled, watching as his friend ran a hand along the handlebars of a motorcycle close to the door.

"We only need two vehicles."

Hill shrugged, "this is where all our vehicles are placed. It definitely helps."

"I'm taking the bike."

Hill snorted, "go ahead, we got plenty more. Just try and bring it back in one piece.

"Wanda stepped up to the side of the agent.

"Me and my brother will take the small four door. Hopefully he won't get too pushy about how 'slow' we're going."

"Everything is slow compared to me. It's not my fault."

Bucky stilled at that last sentence.

'It's not my fault.'

They were experimented on by Hydra too.

'Like Becky.'

His hands clenched tight around the handlebars, unknowingly bending them.

A hand gripped his shoulder.

"You okay, Buck?"

He looked down at the mangled bars and shook his head.

"Hydra has caused so much hell and no matter how many times we've fought them, they still keep coming. When we fought them in World War 2, we were so sure we were going to put and end to them."

He lifted his left hand, studying it with a harsh eye.

"Then I fell and they found me."

"Bucky..."

"They ripped my identity from me, Steve, they tore my body apart and pieced it back together into the worst kind of monster. They turned me into their pawn, into their fucking lapdog. I'll be damned if they do the same to my daughter! I have had enough. When I find her, nothing will stop the violence that will happen. They want the Winter Soldier, well, they are going to get him. All of him."

Steve could only stand there, his hand held tight against his friend's shoulder.

He didn't know if his hand was still there to comfort Bucky...or to comfort himself.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

After a few moments, they all took their respective vehicles and drove out of the SHIELD safehouse, leaving behind a very confused Agent Hill.

She had overheard Steve's and Bucky's conversation.

'The Winter Soldier has a daughter?'

She squared her shoulders.

"Better tell Fury about this."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Both Steve and Bucky had decided on taking motorcycles, leaving Wanda and Pietro to take the silver SUV.

The captain's shield and all of Bucky's weapons in the back.

Wanda noticed her brother was unnaturally quiet.

"Piet, you okay?"

He shook his head, not answering her at first. After a few more minutes though, he spoke, his voice thick with emotion.

"Once we get those files, everything will change again. I never thought I would see her again, Wanda. Not after they ripped her from my arms."

Wanda's hands tightened on the steering wheel.

He never spoke of it to her. Of the day little moon disappeared from the base and from their lives.

"Part of it was Strucker, but there was someone else behind it, behind him, pulling his strings like a puppetmaster. I didn't see them but I did hear a woman's voice."

Wanda was shocked. "What?"

"Yes, Strucker found little moon and I in bed together, but that wasn't the only reason they took her. They took her because we had planned on running away together."

She was silent as she listened to her brother speak.

'Running away?'

She had never seen her brother like this. There were tears in his eyes and his hands were shaking.

"What happened?"

"They placed a damn collar around her neck, like she was an animal and drug her away. I tried to use my speed to get to her, but the woman grabbed me, mid-run and all of a sudden my body was wracked with pain. I couldn't do anything but drop to the floor and watch them take her."

"Who was the woman?" He shook his head.

"I don't know, but whatever she did to me only went away after Strucker gave me an injection. It was as if she had poisoned me.

"Wanda shook her head as she reached a hand over and patted her brother's knee.

"We will find her brother. We will get her back."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve pulled his bike to a stop in front of a familiar looking building.

Bucky pulled up alongside him, throwing him a confused look.

"What are we at a hospital?"

Steve smiled.

"This is the location Natasha mentioned. Now lets just hope the info's in there."

They kicked the stands out and climbed off their bikes in tandem, stopping on the sidewalk to wait for Wanda and Pietro to join them.

Pietro was just as confused at Bucky was when he stepped out of the vehicle.

"A hospital?"

The cap shook his head, "just trust me. This is the place Nat talked about."

The young man nodded, "of course I trust you, Captain."

"Well, then, gentleman, are we going inside or standing around out here?"

Steve motioned to her and Pietro."You two stay out here with the vehicles."

Pietro opened his mouth to protest until

Bucky spoke up. "Hydra already knows we're on to them. Who knows what will happen, so we need to keep our escape open."

Pietro nodded in agreement.

"You have a point, old man."

Bucky's eyes narrowed, "Call me 'old man' again..."

"Bucky, he calls everyone older than him, 'old man', even me."

Steve's words quickly deflated the situation and they all parted ways.

The Cap and Bucky heading inside and the siblings staying outside near the vehicles.

Steve wouldn't admit the bolt of nervousness that hit him as they entered the building.

'Now where is that vending machine?'


	13. The Color of Envy

They finally reached the vending machine on the 3rd floor and Steve looked around at the empty hallway before looking back at the machine.

'Something's not right.'

The info wasn't there.

"Are you looking for these?"

The female voice that hit his ears sent a cold shiver down his spine.

That wasn't Natasha.

"Steve..."

He turned at the same time Bucky did.

The former assassin tensed beside him.

A few feet down the hall from them stood a tall, lean woman in a doctor's coat, her hair a pale strawberry blonde and her eyes were a bright green. She was holding Natasha up with one hand and in her other hand were the files they were looking for.

The files that would hopefully lead them to Rebecca and Syrena.

"Now, my pet, you see what happens when you don't listen?"

She was looking directly at Bucky, a smile on her face.

"You have been quite naughty lately, haven't you? I will admit when Strucker first came to me with the news that you had reverted, I was very upset. I wanted so badly to kill you in that moment, to make you suffer as I have suffered, but then Baron Strucker told me interesting news. You had had a child. And with that bitch Syrena!"

"Who the hell are you?" Bucky snarled.

The woman looked hurt. "Who am I? Don't tell me you don't remember me. That you don't remember our times together?"

"I think I would remember a psychotic bitch like you."

The woman's eyes narrowed to slits.

"Now that wasn't very nice at all, my love."

She pulled Nat close to her and they watched in horror as her tongue flicked out, forked like a snake and touched Nat's face, making the assassin wake up, gasping in pain. Green and yellow blisters covered her face and her lips started to turn blue.

Steve shook his head.

"That's enough."

The woman laughed.

"Enough? Oh you poor deluded man. I am far from finished. My protégé will see to that."

Bucky stilled. "Protégé?"

"Ah yes, your little girl is quite resilient. She has survived all my tests so far. Such a good girl, such a good killer. She made only one mistake, leaving this one alive!"

She shoved Nat to the floor between them before shrugged the white coat off, revealing a deep green leather outfit.

They looked at her in shock.

Bucky took a step forward. "Where is she?!"

She shrugged, a smug look on her face.

"Where would be the fun in telling you? If you figure it out, then you can come and try to take her from me. If you think you can, of course."

She turned to walk away.

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

"Oh, how rude of me. I will tell you again, my love, since you have so easily forgotten me."

She pulled a sphere from her hip, and twisted it, causing it to start blinking green.

Bucky started slowly backing up.

Steve quickly dove for Nat, pulling her into his arms.

"I'm the Viper."

She threw the sphere at them.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

After a few minutes waiting, a wave of concern hit her.

It was the Captain.

"Pietro, you need to go inside. They are going to need your help."

Her brother stopped his pacing at her words.

"What is-"

"No time brother, go!"

He nodded and with a whoosh, he was gone.

The trunk to the suv opened and slammed shut after a second.

'Oh please, get there in time, brother.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

All of a sudden the sphere reappeared in her hand at the same time the files disappeared from the other.

She hissed in anger when the sphere released a cloud of green gas.

"What the hell?"

Her exclamation of anger melted into screams of agony.

The Captain's shield appeared in his hands before Pietro stopped next to Bucky and handed him the files.

"Here, I believe this is yours?"

Bucky only nodded at the speedster.

The screams stopped after a moment to be replaced by laughter.

"You really think poison would affect me? I'm the Viper. Poison is my gift!"

Viper stepped from the gas, her face covered in green and yellow blisters. She grabbed at her face and pulled, ripping it apart and revealing an untouched face underneath.

Pietro visibly gagged.

"Okay, that's disgusting. Time to go!"

Bucky, nodded.

"I agree with the kid!"

Viper grinned and tutted under her breath.

"Pietro Maximoff."

Pietro stilled and slowly turned to her.

"How do you know my name?"

"You should know she screamed for you. It was really quite pathetic, actually."

Ice filled his veins.

"What?"

"'Pietro! Pietro, help me! You promised!' We naturally had to beat it out of her, of course."

"You bitch!"

She smiled.

"You must have been quite the lover to invoke such devotion."

Bucky looked at Pietro with shock.

Viper noticed the look. "Oh, you didn't know? How delicious!"

She dissolved into laughter.

"They had planned on running away, like they thought they could actually escape Hydra. No one escapes Hydra. They all come back in the end. You will to, me love. You will too."

Bucky shook the shock off.  
Pietro still didn't move from his spot next to him.

'She yelled for me. I wasn't there to save her. I promised her...'

Bucky grabbed him and shook him.

"Kid, wake up!"

A smack across his face brought him back.

"What the hell was that for?"

"A lot of things kid, but we need to move our asses. Now!"

Pietro shot a look at the Captain.

"Take Bucky! I've got Nat!"

Viper pulled another sphere from her belt and when she twisted it, it started blinking red instead of green.

"This is going to hurt not only you, but everyone else here. Can you save them all, Captain America?"

She threw at the ground at the same time Pietro vanished.

He grabbed Bucky and in a flash, they were outside.

Steve ran down the corridor and crashed through the window, holding Nat close. He used his shield and his own body to cushion their fall.

Then the third floor exploded.


	14. They All Fall Down

Steve, with his ears ringing, could only look up in horror at the blown out windows. Through his muffled ears, he could hear people screaming for help.

"You son of a bitch!"

Steve looked down at Nat...she was still unconscious.

That wasn't her voice.

That was...'oh no.'

He looked up just in time to see Bucky punch Pietro in the face.

"Bucky!"

He could hear Wanda screaming at him to stop.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

As soon as the third floor exploded, Pietro made a move forward to go help but was stopped by a hand gripping his wrist.

He turned to see Bucky glaring at him.

"Was Viper telling the truth? Did you sleep with Rebecca? With my daughter?"

Pietro visibly gulped.

He could only nod in agreement.

"I lov-"

That was all the former assassin needed.

"You son of a bitch!"

The speedster wasn't fast enough to stop the metal fist from slamming into his jaw and knocking him down.

After the first hit, Pietro could have just sped away, but he didn't. He knew Bucky needed this, and perhaps it would help lessen some of his pain as well.

'It would be better for him to just kill me...I failed to keep my promise...I'm sorry.'

"Stop it!" Wanda screamed, tears filling her eyes at her brother's voice echoing in her head.

Scarlet energy encased her hands.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve scrambled to get his feet under him but stopped when Nat wheezed, and grabbed him, moving her lips to speak.

Steve shook his head at her.

"Shh. Don't speak right now. We got to get you to the hospital."

"Syrena-"

"Later, okay."

Nat shook her head.

"Syrena. Here. D.C." before she slumped back to the ground unconscious.

Steve looked at Nat shocked before a small smile broke out.

"Great job, Nat. Now just rest, okay. We'll take it from here."

He waved a hand to some people that were close by.

"Call 911! There should be another hospital a few blocks from here! We also need fire and rescue!"

Some people quickly scrambled for their phones. Others even got in their cars and were pulling out blankets and jackets to give to people as they filed out.

He looked back to where Bucky and Pietro were and breathed a sigh of relief.

Wanda had Bucky pinned to the sidewalk with tendrils of scarlet energy.

He struggled and strained but couldn't break free. He instead settled for yelling at the young speedster.

"You bastard! If you lay another hand on her...I'll kill you!"

Pietro just sat there on the concrete with his head in his hands, shaking uncontrollably.

Wanda openly sobbed at the sight in front of her. The hospital was a mess, flames licking up the side of the building, and glass and debris littering the grounds around them.

Her heart ached most of all for her brother.

His speed would have allowed him to escape Bucky, but he didn't. Pietro had let the ex-assassin nearly beat him to death.

He was consumed with guilt.

Sirens blared in the background as fire trucks and EMTs began to arrive.

Help was here.

She looked over to Steve where he held Nat down.

'What do we do now?'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

"At 10:35 am this morning, the third floor of St. Ignatius Hospital was destroyed when a bomb was detonated. There are 6 confirmed deaths and 12 wounded at this time. Police have no leads-"

Steve turned the T.V. off and turned back to the hospital bed that held an unresponsive Natasha.

She was quarantined inside a plastic bubble, hooked up to a ventilator, multiple I.V.s, and a heart rate monitor. The gentle beep-beep, reminding them every so often that she was still alive.

He shook his head.

'We should have reached you sooner Nat. I'm sorry.'

"How is she?"

Steve turned at his friend's voice.

"Doctors say that the poison is only temporary, but they still gave her a dose of anti-venom just in case. She should be feeling better in a week."

"That's good news."

"Yes."

Steve sighed and turned to face Bucky eye to eye.

"Nat found Syrena."

Bucky's eyes widened.

"She found her? Where?"

"Apparently, she's somewhere here in D.C. We won't know until we hack those files Pietro filched for us."

The former assassin snorted at the name.

"Only thing he's good for, that and I'm also thinking target practice."

"Why did you hit the kid, Buck? I mean I know one reason..."

Bucky groaned and turned away, only to be stopped by Steve's hand on his shoulder.

"He slept with my daughter, Steve. Slept with her! There is no place to be doing that when you're just kids."

Steve shook his head.

"I remember a jerk of a seventeen year old bragging about a few of his conquests a time or two."

Bucky glared at him."That's different."

"No, its not and you know it. I think you better talk to him at least."

"What?! No, no way in hell!"

Cap crossed his arms, "Buck..."

He ripped his arm free, turning and walking away from his friend.

"I'm not talking to him."

Steve sighed.

"They comforted each other in a dark time and place, Buck, when they thought there was no way out. I have a feeling it affected not only her but Pietro also. And the truth of it is, we are going to need his help to find Rebecca and Syrena, whether you like it or not."

Bucky stilled and gave a quick glance back before he growled and walked away.

"I'm still not talking to him!"

Cap just shook his head and chuckled.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Bucky paused outside the waiting room and ran a hand through his hair.

'God, I hate when he's right. Jerk.'

He opened the door and stepped in.

Wanda shot to her feet, her hands immediately incased in crimson tendrils of energy.

"What do you want?"

Bucky held both hands up.

"I, uh, came to talk to him."

Pietro lifted his face to Bucky.

The ex-assassin winced.

One eye was nearly closed over and his nose was stuffed with gauze.

"Don't worry, this isn't the worst beating I've had."

Bucky filed that dark info away for another time as he walked into the room and sat down across from the speedster.

Pietro gingerly touched his nose.

"Plus, I'll heal up in no time. One of the only side effects from the serum that I actually like. The high metabolism, though, is a pain in the ass."

"You know I'm not sorry for hitting you, right?"

"Of course. I am quite sure that that is the common reaction for any father to that specific type of news. I am sorry that you had to find out about...us...that way, though."

"What's she like?"

Pietro stared at Barnes, confused before he spoke again.

"What?"

"What's my daughter like?"

'Oh...'

"You mean, little moon, well, Rebecca?"

Bucky nodded. "I only know her from that video of her birth. I don't know what she looks like now, what her favorite things are...does she smile constantly? Does she have my hair color? My eyes? Hell I can hardly remember her mother as well."

Pietro shook his head. He felt bad for the older man sat across from him. He had had everything taken from him and was slowly but surely piecing it all back together. It gave him hope for his own future. Hopefully a future with little moon at his side.

"She is different, but still very beautiful...she-she is lunnyy svet."

"Pure moonlight?" Bucky was confused.

"Beautiful pale skin, very long almost white blonde hair and eyes of pure silver."

"So she looks nothing like me or her mother."

"No matter what she looks like, she is still your daughter. She carries herself the same as you."

"Is-was she happy? With Wanda? With you?"

"I only ever saw her smile around me and my sister. "

"She wasn't smiling because of me, Piet, we both know that."

Wanda interjected.

Pietro smiled widely at his sister before wincing in pain. He had momentarily forgotten about the black eye and broken nose thinking of Rebecca.

"When she did smile...it was as if the moon was replaced by the sun. She shone when she smiled."

Bucky was still very angry about them sleeping together, but he could tell how much Pietro felt for her by the way his face lit up, how his eyes softened, and his voice took on this tone of awe when he talked about her.

The kid cared for Rebecca.

Bucky cleared his throat.

"How-how much training has she had?"

"By the time I first met her, she was already a highly skilled fighter. And I know for a fact that she has one hell of a punch, just like her father."

Bucky laughed, "How the hell did you find that one out?"

The speedster smiled and leaned forward.

"Well, I will tell you. So one day Strucker has me brought into this big open area, and right there next to him was 'little moon'-"

Wanda watched with bated breath as the two talked, only deciding to leave the room when the conversation turned to Rebecca.

She closed the door behind her with a smile.


	15. Pawns

"Damn it! That Maximoff needs to pay for what he did! First the venom gas and then taking the files from me! Damn him!"

Viper tore through her office, ripping the blinds down, knocking papers to the floor, and smashing the vases against the walls.

A knock on the door made her pause in her destructive rant.

"Enter!"

The door opened to reveal a man in a lab coat.

"Lady Viper?"

"What is it? Best make it quick or suffer."

"The subject is ready."

He cringed at the animalistic glee on her face.

"Fantastic."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

When she sauntered into the lab, she threw her arms out, smiling widely.

There in the center of the room was Rebecca, sitting in something that looked eerily like a electric chair. Scientists were on either side of her looking at monitors and quickly jotting notes down on their clipboards.

"There's my girl! How are you feeling today?"

There was no reply.

"Now, now, my little wolf, no need for the silent treatment. It wouldn't do to make me upset, would it?"

"No, my mistress."

"That's better. Now, how are you feeling?"

"Strange."

Viper lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh? And what kind of strange are we talking about here? Tingling sensations? Stomach issues?"

"Dreaming."

Now that was strange.

"Dreaming? You can't dream. The medicine we give you each night keeps you from doing that."

"But I did. I dreamt I was back in Herr Strucker's facility. Back with..."

She trailed off.

"With Pietro?"

Rebecca nodded.

Viper's eyes narrowed at the girl's admission.

'This Pietro is turning out to be quite a bit of trouble.'

She didn't like trouble.

"What are you dreaming of?"

She saw the girl's cheeks flush.

"Ahh, I see. He must have been quite talented, huh?"

Rebecca looked up at her in shock, the flush deepening to an embarrassed red.

"Don't get too hung up on it, you won't have to worry about him much longer, my dear child."

"I'm not your child!"

Viper backhanded her hard across the face, splitting her lip and making her nose bleed.

A scientist next to her shook his head.

"Her heart rate is elevated again. If it gets too high..."

"Don't worry. She'll calm down, she always does. Don't you dear?"

She tangled her fingers in the girl's hair and yanked her head back.

"Now you listen to me, you are nothing more than a pawn in this game. In my game! You have no say in what you do at all. I say jump, you jump. I say kill, you say who? And right now I say kill."

Rebecca shook her head.

"No! No more killing, please!?"

Viper laughed, then threw her back into her seat before turning to the scientists with a smirk.

"Wipe her. I want a fresh mind to work with."

Rebecca dropped her gaze to the floor and leaned back, letting the scientists strap her into the chair.

She left the room smiling as the screams of Rebecca echoed around her.

/. ~ / ~ / ~ /

"So then I turn to look at her and say, 'so, 'malen'kaya luna', same time tomorrow?' She smiled and then smacked me again."

Bucky shook his head chuckling at the the ending. "She definitely kept you on your toes. That's amazing. Considering her lack of sight."

Pietro nodded, "Yes. I was surprised as well, but with her help I learned to push my speed to the point it is now. She even helped Wanda with her abilities. At that time my sister could only manipulate wooden blocks and pencils. Now, well, you've seen what she can do."

Bucky sure knew, his back was still slightly sore from nearly being put six feet into the dirt.

"Speaking of my sister, I fear that she has left us on our own."

The ex-assassin looked around the room and realized that yes, Wanda had left them alone.

That realization brought what Steve had told him back.

'Nat found Syrena.'

"Natasha told Steve something before she passed out. She found Syrena."

Pietro was confused, "Who is Syrena?"

"Rebecca's mother."

"Her mother is still alive?"

Bucky nodded, "Yeah. And she's somewhere here in D.C."

The speedster was shocked by that news. Rebecca's mother was here? In D.C.?

"So we are going after her mother first?"

"Yeah. Steve reasoned that the more people we have against Viper right now, the better chance we have of getting Becky back."

"I agree."

"I'm still going to keep a close eye on you, you know? If Becky went through at least half of what I did, then she's going to need time to find herself again. So take things slow. And no getting handsy until she's ready. And I definitely don't have to tell you what would happen if you do?"

Pietro nodded his head, a serious look on his face.

"I wouldn't push her to do anything she doesn't want to. I am not that type of person. I will help her best I can to regain herself, but I know to give her space. I just want her back."

"Well, until then, we've got a truce between us, alright?"

Bucky held out his hand to the speedster who shook it with a smile on his face.

The older man leaned forward and whispered, "Just for forewarning, I do have over two dozen confirmed kills under my belt, got it?"

Pietro gulped, an eerie chill going down his spine.

'Oh he definitely got it.'

"Now, lets go meet up with Cap and Wanda. We've got files to crack."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Viper walked back into the room and nodded to the scientists.

"Lady Viper, the wipe was a success. We may proceed with mission programming."

"Finally some good news."

She moved to stand directly in front of the younger girl, noticing her eyes were staring blankly ahead.

"Smirno soldata!" (At attention soldier!)

Rebecca stood and fell into a resting position with her hands behind her back.

"Moya missiya?" (My mission?)

"Now that's more like it, my dear. You actually have several missions this time. The first is to retrieve files that were stolen from me."

"Utverditel'nyy."

"The next two are kill orders."

"Tseli?" (Targets?)

"Pietro Maximoff and James "Bucky" Barnes, the former Winter Soldier. Both are traitors to our cause."

"Period vremeni?"

"No time frame. Just kill them."

"Utverditel'nyy." (Affirmative.)

"Good girl. Now go gather your gear and get ready."

Rebecca walked to the doors only to be stopped by Viper.

"Now my dear, you know better, what do you say before you leave my presence?"

The girl slowly turned around and locked eyes with her.

"Hail Hydra."

Viper laughed as Rebecca left the room.

"Let's see you save her now, my love, when all she'll want to do is kill you."


	16. Flashback

They had decided to go to a friend of Lang's which saw them standing in an old warehouse waiting. For what, they didn't know.

Bucky didn't like it. He shook his head, "This isn't good, Steve. We're too exposed. There are far too many open areas for sniper nests."

Steve crossed his arms, "Pietro's been over this entire building twice, Buck, It's clean."

"Fine."

The revving of an engine caught their attention and they watched as an classic two seater convertible drove in and pulled to a stop.

They were all surprised at the old man who climbed out and approached them.

He smiled brightly and held a hand out to Steve.

"Captain Rogers, what a honor to finally meet you face to face."

"Umm, nice to meet you too. Do...we know each other?"

The older man shook his head, "No, but Peggy did talk about you a lot. I'm Dr. Hank Pym."

Cap locked eyes with the man and recognition flitted through his mind.

"You were one of the original founders of SHIELD."

"Yes, well, I wasn't there for long though. Tell me, how is my suit holding up? Please tell me Scott hasn't been messing with the power supply again."

"Umm, no?"

"Good. He contacted me and told me that you had some files that needed cracking?"

Steve handed the files over. "Right here. How long do you think it will take you?"

Dr. Pym took a set of small figures out of his pocket and set them on the ground, close together. He took a few steps back, removing a handful of blue disks from his front chest pocket, and threw them at each figure. With each disk thrown, a device popped up, until there was an entire computer system complete with power source set up right there in the warehouse.

Pietro was stunned, but excited. "That was cool, old man."

Pym shrugged, "Sure beats carrying it all here full size. I really would not have been much help with a broken back, now would I?"

He raised the USB device up, "Now, lets see what we have here."

He plugged the device in and began working on the encryption. Bucky shook his head, "You still didn't tell us how long it would take you?"

"Patience is a virtue, Sargeant Barnes, I suggest you start practicing it."

"How did you know my name?"

"I've been keeping tabs on all of you. Unit 46B has been shadowing you since you arrived in D.C."

Bucky looked around him in shock, "What? No one else is here, speedy did a double check of the warehouse."

Dr, Pym chuckled. "Your shoulder, Sargeant. I employ a different sort of worker."

There was a slight buzzing noise which caught Bucky's ear and he looked down and found a winged ant sitting there.

"What the hell?!"

He lifted a hand to swat the bug, but before he could it lifted off and flew towards Pym, landing on his out-stretched hand.

"I would rather not have you squish my associates."

Wanda gaped at him, "How do you get it to listen to you?"

He tapped just behind his ear, "My brainwaves are tapped into the electrical impulses they give off. In layman terms, I speak to them with my mind, Ms. Maximoff. Now lets get back to work, shall we?"

It was an agonizing wait for Bucky. They had to find Syrena fast, so they could immediately go after Rebecca.

He was also nervous at the thought of seeing Syrena again.

There were only snippets he remembered of her. He remembered killing her father, remembered her stabbing his metal arm with a knife. He definitely remembered that first kiss and what happened after.

'She's pregnant.'

All of a sudden a locked door in his mind slammed open and a long hidden memory hit him hard, making him stumble.

"Buck, you okay?"

"Becky..."

His eyes rolled to the back of his skull and he slumped to the ground unconscious.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

 _He was brought to a large room in an underground warehouse where he noticed Pierce was waiting for him._

 _He had a new mission for the Winter Soldier: To train the newest generation of Hydra soldier._

 _The Winter Soldier was confused by Pierce's statement. The other winter soldiers were frozen after they proved to be too strong and too unstable. So he didn't understand._

 _Until a young girl was lead into the room by a bar attached to the collar around her was surrounded by armed guards. Intrigued by the sight, he studied her small frame and noticed how she didn't react to anything with her eyes. She was blind._

 _Some part of him recognized the young girl, but he couldn't remember where from._

 _His master pointed to the girl and nodded. "This is Volchitsa."_

 _'She-wolf.'_

 _"Be careful, she has already proven to be quite formidable. The last three instructors that have tried to train her have ended up with their throats torn out by her teeth, hence the name."_

 _She hissed at the mention of her past kills._

 _Pierce pointed at him. "Now she is to learn from the best in the business. You. Don't fail me or you'll be put back in that freezer. Got it?"_

 _The Winter Soldier stood at attention and nodded."Utverditel'nyy."_

 _"Good."_

 _When his master left the room he quickly fell into a fighting stance just as they unlocked her collar._

 _She let loose a guttural growl and advanced on him with death in her eyes._

 _He snarled back, "Vremya dlya pervogo uroka , rebenok." (Time for your first lesson, child.)_

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

He slowly came back, the muffled sound of a voice yelling at him cleared his head further.

"...ucky! Bucky! Can you hear me?"

He nodded.

"What happened?"

The memory hit him again and his chest tightened and he gasped for breath.

'Those bastards.'

"Oh god, Steve. I've met her. They made me..."

Steve was confused, "Who? Who did you meet? What did they do?"

A tear trailed down his cheek as he locked eyes with his friend.

"Becky."

He dropped his head into his hands as the tears slipped from his eyes.

"That bastard Pierce made me train her, Steve. I trained her and I didn't recognize her! Damn it! I didn't even recognize my own daughter!"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve had never seen Bucky pass out. Never. So he of course panicked.

Dr. Pym noticed the look on Steve's face so he stepped in.

"Captain Rogers, we need to make sure that his head and feet are elevated. Alright?"

The soft tone he was using, calmed him and he was able to focus.

"Okay, make sure head and feet are elevated. Then what?"

"We wait until he wakes up. It doesn't look like he injured himself."

He kneeled down and checked over the unconscious man's skull and nodded. "I don't see any open cuts or feel any fractures so its probably nothing more than a bump. He's going to have a hell of a headache when he wakes up though, but other than that, he'll be fine."

"Thank you, Dr. Pym."

"Please, call me Hank."

"Steve."

"Well I will just finish this decryption up and we'll all be set."

He turned back to the computer and his fingers flew over the keyboard, continuing the decryption process.

Pietro whooshed to a stop right behind him.

"So, did I hear you correctly, you are the one who created the bug suit?"

"The Antman suit, you mean?"

"Uhh, yes. You, uhh, called it your suit. Is that true?"

Hank nodded, "Before Scott Lang was Antman, I was. I did a lot of work for SHIELD in those days. My wife even joined me on most of those missions, well until she had our daughter, of course."

Pietro smiled, "Ahh, so Antman and Antwoman?"

The older man chuckled, "Oh no, she was known as The Wasp. And she was damn good. So tell me, why are you asking me all these questions? Is it your own burning curiosity or something else?"

The younger man shifted in place. "You have knowledge of machines and their inner workings. Well, I know someone who had a collar put on them. I was wondering if you would know anything about it?"

Dr. Pym's hands stilled on the keyboard and his voice was low as he spoke.

"What did the collar look like?"

"It was silver, with red and black wires around the middle of it and what looked like magnets holding it together."

"Damn."

"Doctor, is something wrong?"

"Yeah, you all failed to mention that Viper's involved in this."

Steve looked up from Bucky's passed out form to lock eyes with Hank.

"You know Viper."

"Unfortunately, yes. Nasty woman. Has a penchant for poisons as well as a natural immunity to them. Also, if her body takes too much damage, she has a failsafe ability where she can shed her own skin to heal herself."

"She sounds difficult to fight."

"Yes she does. Although my wife was the one who fought her. She was buying me time to disable a nuclear device, but Viper launched it before we could. That was the day I lost my wife."

"What happened?"

"The plating on the rocket was titanium. We couldn't cut through it, so my wife didn't hesitate. She went sub-atomic and slipped through the gap between the plating and disabled the rocket."

Steve placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry."

He gave a short bark of laughter, "You know before I gave Scott the suit, I had never told anyone else that story, but something happened that gave me hope that I would see her again."

"What?"

"Scott went sub-atomic in the suit just a year ago. Its when he was fighting a former protégé of mine, Darren Cross. I don't know how he did it, but he came back."

Cap was shocked, he had never heard that story. Scott had just said he had just helped Dr. Pym reacquire something of his, but didn't go into detail about it.

A sudden beeping filled his ears and Pym clapped his hands.

"Well, that was a little slower than I had planned."

That was when Bucky jerked awake with a low groan.

Steve placed a hand on his shoulder, helping him to sit up slowly.

"Bucky!...Bucky! Can you hear me?"

At his friend's nod, he asked, "What happened?"

Bucky's shoulders were shaking and he took a gasping breath.

"Oh god, Steve. I've met her. They made me..."

Steve's mind raced, 'what was going on?'

"Who? Who did you meet? What did they make you do?"

Then a single name fell from Bucky's lips that made his blood run cold.

"Becky."

He could only watch in pained silence as his friend put his head in his hands and cried.

"That bastard Pierce made me train her, Steve. I trained her and I didn't recognize her! Damn it! I didn't even recognize my own daughter!"

This was only the second time he had seen his friend cry and the irony was not lost on him that both times were over a girl with the name Rebecca.

The first his sister.

The second his daughter.

Both victims to horrible fates.

He clenched his fists so hard, his knuckles popped.

But this Rebecca they were going to save.

Come hell or high water.


	17. Testing12

Pym closed his eyes, clearly affected by Bucky's flashback.

He knew what it was like to lose a daughter. Distancing himself from Hope had been a bad decision on his part. It created the rift between them, a rift that's healing now thanks to Scott.

And now here was someone else who's child was taken from them while they were a broken shell of a man. Hank knew that Bucky was only going to be whole once more when he had his little girl back. He squared his shoulders.

He already helped Scott with Cassie, he can help Bucky now.

"Captain, I have the files decrypted. What were you looking for specifically? I'll be able to isolate it with my equipment. It would make it easier for you."

Steve stood up, a puzzled look on his face. "Just having those files decrypted now is helpful enough."

Hank shrugged, "Might as well do it while the equipment's right here."

Wanda stepped forward, "That's not all of it, is it?"

Dr. Pym took a deep breath. "A year ago I offered a former thief a chance to turn his life around by becoming Antman. You know why he did it?"

Steve shook his head.

"His daughter, Cassie. He did it all for her, to show her that he WAS the hero she always knew him to be. That's why I'm helping."

"But..."

"I made the biggest mistake of my life by distancing myself from my daughter after we lost her mother. I know what its like to think your child is lost to you, that you'll never get them back. Its not true. Scott brought Hope back to me."

Bucky shook his head, giving a quick glance to Pietro.

'Can he do it? Can he help bring her back?"

Wanda wiped the tears from her face.

"You feel indebted to Scott. That's why you are doing this, isn't it?"

Hank nodded, "I owe him more than he thinks. Just don't tell him that. His ego doesn't need anymore inflating."

Wanda giggled, "You have my word, Dr. Pym."

."Thanks."

Steve smiled, "Well, we need to find the files pertaining to two people. The first one's name is Syrena, she was the Winter Soldier's former student."

"And the other one is his daughter, right?"

"Yes. Rebecca. Although Hydra has given her different names. Try searching for Winter Wolf, wolf, or 'child of death'."

Hank's eyebrow rose at that.

"Try Volchitsa as well. I remembered Pierce calling her that." Bucky added.

"Okay."

Pym turned back to the machine and typed the key words in.

"I, of course, had to quickly devise a search algorithm for this, so it could take a little bit longer."

"We are in an abandoned warehouse, Doctor, I doubt we are going to be run out any time soon."

It was just a few minutes later the machine starts beeping erratically.

"Well, we got a hit. Several actually."

Steve moved to stand right beside him at the machine. "Syrena?"

He shook his head and chuckled. "Well, talk about serendipity. It seems that this Syrena is being held in a facility close by. "

Barnes perked up at that, "Really?"

The older man quickly set about downloading the files back in a clean USB device and handed it to Barnes when it finished.

"Go get them back, Sergeant."

He extended a hand to Pym, "Name's Bucky. And thanks."

Suddenly, a loud buzzing noise filled the air, as a swarm of flying ants surrounded Pym. He quickly tapped the device behind his ear and they settled down at his feet.

"Pym, what's going on? You okay?"

He looked up at them with a shocked look on his face. "Gentlemen, we've got company."

It was then the door to the warehouse exploded, knocking Pym back into his machine. He slumped to the ground unconscious.

When the smoke finally cleared, Bucky chest tightened.

"Becky?"

There she was looking every inch the dangerous creature she was. What he had helped her to become. His hands clenched in thinly veiled rage at that thought.

She had fire at her back and death in her eyes and she was walking right towards them and Bucky could do nothing but watch.

He knew that blank look well enough. They had wiped her mind. Suppressed her memories, locking them deep within her mind.

Which just made their job even more difficult and that much more dangerous.

'Fight it, Becky.' He mentally whispered, a silent plea to his little girl, 'Fight it.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

The explosion caused Pietro to grab his sister and move her to the back of the building.

"You okay, sister?"

Wanda stilled in his arms and gripped his arms.

"Piet," She looked up at him in shock, "It's her."

His heart dropped to his stomach. 'Little moon.'

A determination filled him then and Wanda clutched at his arms, "No, Piet, don't go. Her mind-"

Within a split second he was gone and on the other side, standing a few feet from Rebecca.

"..has changed." Wanda finished, crumpling to the ground and sobbing for her brother, for Rebecca, and for Bucky.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Viper leaned back in her chair, watching the live video feed with a devious grin. "Why, hello lover-boy."

She snapped her fingers and pointed to one of the scientists near her.

"Mark time, date and preliminary vitals. The first test phase has officially begun."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve and Bucky stood up at the same time but was waved down by Pietro.

Basically telling them. 'Let me handle this.'

Steve nodded, but he still stood at the ready, his muscles tensed for action.

Bucky took a step forward but was stopped by the cocking of a gun.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Pietro was breathing heavily and his heart was beating a fast rhythm in his chest.

He could only stare at her. She was still as beautiful as the first day he saw her, but her demeanor, her stance said nothing but death to him.

She raised the pistol in her hand and leveled it at him, her eyes devoid of all emotion.

"Izmennik."

Pietro closed his eyes, "Don't moya luna, please?"

She pulled the trigger.

He couldn't move. He was frozen in shock at what she had become.

But nothing happened, he had heard the gunshot but felt no pain from it, the bullet hadn't hit him. He opened his eyes and gasped.

Bucky had stepped in front of him, shielding him, and taking the bullet in his shoulder.

Bucky's mind exploded with pain. The bullet had torn through cartilage and bone and lodged itself into the joint. His heart dropped like lead into his stomach because he knew what those cold eyes meant. He had seen those eyes once before. When he looked at himself in the mirror.

They had wiped her mind. Turned her into the newest version of the Winter Soldier and he realized that he was either going to have to break through to her or...

He shook his head. He didn't want to even think it.

"Stay behind me, alright. I can take more pain than you."

Pietro shook his head, "I doubt it at the moment when you have a large hole in your shoulder."

"Shut up."

Bucky grabbed his shoulder with his metal hand, trying to put pressure on the wound.

"Becky, honey, I know they say I'm a traitor. Maybe I am. All I know is that I did what I had to do to survive, so I could BE myself again. You can do it too. You're strong Becky. So strong, babydoll."

The blood trailed from his shoulder, soaking down half the length of his sleeve. He was losing blood fast and it was starting to make him light-headed, but he couldn't stop now, he couldn't give up on his little girl.

Never.

"Izmennik!"

"Moya doch'." (My daughter.)

She paused for a second before advancing on him again.

"Moya malen'kaya luna luch." (My little moon beam)

That did it. She stopped completely and tilted her head at him.

"Moy otets? Malen'kaya luna?"

The gun fell to the floor with a loud clatter as she clutched her head in her hands and screamed the only name she could.

"PIETRO!"

Both her and Bucky slumped to the floor at the same time. One bleeding and one broken, but both in agony.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Viper was furious.

"What! What the hell is happening?! I thought you said the conditioning was to last for an indefinite period of time. What happened?"

"I don't know, Lady Viper. The conditioning did take, but it also depends on how strong the person's mind is. She-" His words turned to choking gasps as she breathed in his face. It was a few seconds later, he slumped over his station dead, blood pouring from his body.

The other scientists backed away form the body. One raised a hand to which Viper nodded.

"Yes?"

"We can try the device we planted. That should kick the conditioning back into place."

Viper smiled, "Do it. I want my pet back.:"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

In a flash he was at her side, tears blurring his vision.

"Little moon?"

Her head popped up at his voice and he could see the tears streaming from her eyes.

She reached out to him. "Piet? Oh god. You're here? Really here?"

"Yes, my love. I'm here."

He grabbed her hands and placed them on his face. She gave a heaving sob and fell into his chest, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"Piet!"

"Its over." He wrapped her shaking form tightly in his arms. "It's all over now."

"No, its not."

She pulled back from him.

"It's just beginning."

"What do you mean?"

"Viper is still alive. She needs to be stopped or this will keep going and I'll never be free.

Pietro was shocked, "What are you talking about?"

Her body jerked and she fell to the ground convulsing, the new pain ripping a scream from her throat.

"Luna! What-"

The twitching stopped and her eyes flew open.

His heart shattered as she flipped up standing and pulled a knife from her belt.

"Umeret' predatelem." (Die, traitor.)

He couldn't fight her. He didn't want to.

Scarlet energy twined its way around Rebecca and held her in place.

Wanda stopped next to her brother, tears streaming down her face.

"Rebecca, you need to stop. You're going to hurt Pietro. You don't want to hurt him, do you?"

"Moya Tseli. Moya Missiya." (My target. My mission.)

Then the dirt around her feet began to pulse, and hundreds of tiny orange ants began to climb up her body.

"Hold her there, Ms. Maximoff. The crazy ants will do the rest." Dr. Pym hobbled close to them.

"Viper if your watching this, which I have a feeling you are, well, that's twice you lost now."

"Alright guys, overload time."

The air filled with the sounds of snapping and fizzing and Rebecca screamed as the ants released their electrical energy into her body.

Smoke rose from her and when the ants finished, she was unconscious within the tendrils of Wanda's energy.

Wanda laid her down onto the ground gently and turned to her brother.

"Piet?"

"She's still under Viper's control. How do we break that?"

Hank laid a hand on his shoulder.

"By breaking the device, son."

Pietro turned to where Rebecca was and gasped.

"Becca!"

She was gone.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Viper shook her head. "Oh, you stupid little man. You can't break my pet so easily. I made sure of that."

She pointed to the video feed.

"I want the feed analyzed. As well as the post-test vitals and I want the results in two hours. Move!"

The scientist scattered like bugs.

"This was a draw, Avengers."

She threw her head back and laughed.

"But the next time I will win."


	18. No Matter What

Steve's chest ached at what he had just watched.

Just when they thought they had Becky...Viper tugs the leash and she's gone again.

He couldn't worry about it now, not with Bucky hurt as bad as he was. Steve quickly made his way to Bucky and turned him over. He was unconscious. Blood soaked his whole sleeve and half his shirt now.

He was losing too much blood.

He had to get the bullet out and stitch the wound up as fast as he could.

"Wanda!"

She stumbled over to them, tears streaming down her face, "Captain?"

"I need you to concentrate and pull the bullet from his shoulder, okay?"

She shook her head, dropping to her knees. Her hands were shaking in her lap. "I do not know if I can."

He looked her square in the eye, placing a hand over hers. "You can do it, Wanda. I know you can."

Wanda wiped the tears from her cheeks and nodded. She held her hands up as they were encased in crimson energy and closed her eyes as it's tendrils slipped into the wound. Bucky groaned painfully and tried pulling back from her.

"Hold him down captain. This is going to hurt him."

Steve nodded and gripped his friend's upper arms, pinning him to the floor. His eyes filled with pain as Bucky's body began to thrash.

"I got it!" She yelled triumphantly, opening her eyes as the flattened bullet was tugged from the wound. A gush of blood flowed freely behind it, making Steve swear.

"The bullet nicked a vein. We got to seal it and fast."

Dr. Pym hobbled up to them, "I've got an idea, but its going to hurt a hell of a lot worse."

He knelt down and pulled a tube-like piece of metal from one pocket and a lighter from another.

Steve's eyes widened, Hank was going to cauterize the wound. He quickly moved to hold Bucky's arms. "Wanda, help hold him down."

Scarlet energy encased the unconscious man's body, an extra precaution.

The lighter flared to life and the piece of metal was heated to a near orange glow.

Pym wasn't one to beat around the bush with anything so he quickly pressed the metal to the wound and Bucky's body arched off the floor and his eyes flew open as he screamed in agony.

The scent of burning flesh made Wanda gag and turn her face away.

Hank threw the metal away from them and sat back in the dirt. "I sealed the outside of the wound, since he has the super soldier serum in his veins, his internal wounds should seal up quickly. Although I think he might need a blood transfusion soon but I am just a doctor of physics after all."

"Thank you, Hank." Steve replied.

"You know, Peggy never once talked bad about you. She always said you were a born leader, that you never gave up on anyone. Its nice to know that she was telling the truth."

"She doesn't believe in lying. And I don't like to disappoint."

He smiled, "I know. I think after all this, I am going to take a long vacation. I hear Greece is wonderful this time of year."

A low sob caught their ears and they turned to see Pietro still kneeling by the spot where Becky had been laying unconscious just 15 minutes ago.

Hank shook his head, "That boy's heart was just ripped out by that monster. Viper is the worst kind of bad news, Captain. She has no morals whatsoever, she will do anything and everything to get her way. And I mean everything. Watch your back with her."

"Well, first thing we're doing is going after Syrena. With Bucky wounded right now, we need all the help we can get."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Pietro couldn't believe that she was gone. They had her and then they didn't.

His chest ached and tears filled his eyes. His hands clutched at the earth beneath him and his whole body shook with barely contained rage.

First it was Strucker then Viper who took her away from them. He had had enough. They had taken his love from him for the last time.

First they had to find Syrena, then they could take the fight to them and free Rebecca once and for all.

Just then a low buzzing sound caught their attention, increasing in sound as it approached them.

Pym just smiled. "About time she gets here."

A tiny insect came into their line of sight. When it was close enough, there was a whoosh and a suit similar to Scott's was standing right in front of them. She was wearing black and yellow and had two sets of wings on her back. The faceplate flipped up to reveal a young woman's face framed by black hair.

"Dad! Are you alright?"

Hank turned to the others, "I'm fine. You said you needed help, Captain?"

Steve nodded.

"Well, I'd like you all to meet my daughter, Hope Pym. We call her The Wasp."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Becky slumped against the wall, blood leaking from her nose and ears. That had hurt. Far worse than anything else they had done to her but she had to do it. There was no way around it. She had to protect them.

To protect Piet and her father.

'I'm so sorry Piet.'

She had overheard their plan to go after Syrena.

Apparently this Syrena was her mother.

Her chest felt filled with warmth. 'I have a mother too?'

'I have a mother and a father.' Her eye narrowed. Everything that Strucker and that bitch had told her was a lie. 'I guess a part of me had always known.'

Her mind raced, making her already pounding headache worse. She had to lead them away, lead HER away. They would catch on to her eventually but for now she could play pretend and get them following a false lead away, far away from her mother's location.

She wasn't 'child' anymore. She wasn't the 'Viper's pet' either.

She was the daughter of the Winter Soldier. The daughter of James 'Bucky' Barnes.

And she had a name...

Rebecca Barnes.

And she was damn sure going to fight to keep it.

No matter what.

She squared her shoulders and pushed the pained look from her eyes, walking out into the open lot and towards the two soldiers stationed there. They trained their weapons on her.

"Otchet missii?"

She stared at them, thinly veiled aggression in her eyes. "Tseli , dvizhushchiyesya na yuzhnoy storone goroda." (Targets moving to south side of city.)

"Place your weapons on the ground and enter the vehicle."

"YA budu otvechat'." She removed her last pistol and placed it on the ground quietly and placed another blade next to it. She then placed her hands on her head.

Rebecca inwardly smirked.

'Phase one complete.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Bucky hissed in pain. His shoulder had felt like it was being ripped open and then it had stopped. And then his whole mind exploded in fire. His eyes flew open in shock.

His eyes tried to focus on his surroundings but settled for Steve's face, who looked beat down.

"What happened? Is Becky okay?"

The look he received then made his heart drop and rage pumped through his veins.

"What happened?"

"Viper happened."

Bucky's eyes flew over to Pietro.

"That bitch had a device implanted in Becca. To keep her extra compliant. And now she is gone. Again!"

The ex-assassin struggled to sit up, "Then we have to go after her."

Steve grabbed his arm, "No. Syrena's our first priority right now. We are going to need all the help we can get. While you were unconscious, I had sent a message to Scott and Sam to come to D.C. immediately."

He slumped back to the floor, grunting in pain. "So where is she?"

"Well, from the calculations I did before everything went to hell, of course, it showed a hidden Hydra base...six blocks from here."

Wanda gasped. "She's that close?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Surprising, isn't it?"

Bucky snorted.

"Well, aren't you happy? You'll get to see Syrena again after all this time." Wanda questioned him.

"Part of me is happy, yeah, but another part of me is dreading I am going to have to tell her that our daughter is now a killing machine and that I might have to kill her to stop her. Yeah, I'm just jumping for joy."

"Wait, dad, where is this secret base located?"

Dr. Pym looked at her confused, "Six blocks east of here, why?"

Hope shook her head, "I caught some outside chatter in Russian. It was a girl's voice."

Piet surged forward, "Where? What did she say?"

"Just outside. Let me replay it for you."

She pulled a small speaker from her suit and hooked her headset to it and pressed play.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

They first heard the crunching of gravel under footsteps and then the cocking of guns.

"Otchet missii?" (Mission report?)

"Tseli , dvizhushchiyesya na yuzhnoy storone goroda." (Targets moving to south side of city.) A female replied, an underlying hint of aggression to her voice.

"Place your weapons on the ground and enter the vehicle slowly."

"YA budu otvechat'." (I will comply.)

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Pietro took a gasping breath, "Little moon?"

Wanda gasped.

Bucky stared at the speakers with a look of pride, "Good girl Becky."

Hope looked at them confused, "What? What did she say?"

Steve looked at his friend, "What's going on Buck?"

Bucky smiled brightly at him, "She's leading them to the south side of the city, away from Syrena. And if she's doing that..."

Steve smiled. "Then she's not under Viper's control."

"She's pretending to be." Wanda added with a smile.

Bucky laughed. "I knew you were tough kid. I knew it."

Hank looked at all of them and shook his head,

"Then what are you all waiting for? Go get Syrena and kick Viper's ass."


	19. Syrena

Hank had suggested he stay back and monitor the facility while they rescued Syrena.

"I'm an old man. I'll be of no use in a fight. Now technology I can help with and from a safe vantage point."

Steve nodded, "Of course Hank. Keep a close eye on their communications for us. You hear anything about Syrena, give us a heads up, alright?"

"Yes sir."

Bucky wasn't too happy when it was suggested he stay back with Dr. Pym. "What? Why? Syrena won't know any of you. She could end up attacking you. I should go."

"Not in the state you are now. You've lost too much blood, Buck. You'll be no good in a fight in a weakened state. Don't worry, we'll bring her back safely."

"I've got an idea..." Hope interjected.

"And what is that?"

She pulled a small device from her waist, "This is a video and audio recording device. If she doesn't trust us, she must trust you right? Well, we'll take a video of you to have as a precaution."

Hank smiled, "Hope, you are brilliant."

"Like father, like daughter?"

He shook his head, "No. I'd say more like mother, like daughter. She was always more practical than I was."

Steve cleared his throat, "We better get going. Becky's deception can only last so long before she's found out,"

Pietro agreed, "Yes. We don't want it to be in vain. We must move now."

Hope lifted the device, and pressed a few buttons, "Okay, its recording...just say something that only she would know."

Bucky took a deep breath and turned his eyes to the device. "Syrena, moy malen'kiy volk...its me, vasha zvezda. I need you to listen..."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

It was almost nighttime when they got to the location.

Steve turned to the others and nodded. "Alright, here's what we're going to do...Wasp, I want you to infiltrate and take out the power, that will, hopefully, shut down all security measures and allow us to slip into the facility un-noticed."

"Got it."

"Pietro, you are going to run interference, alright? Keep any guards that do notice us distracted. If it gets too hectic in there, I want as few casualties as possible. That's where you come in Wanda. If it does start to go south, persuade the guards to leave, okay?"

"Got it, Captain."

Steve looked down at the grounds and noticed very few guards and when they left, he motioned to Hope.

'Go now.'

She wordlessly nodded and pressed the buttons on her gloves and with a whoosh she was a tiny little insect again. Pietro was sitting next to him looking through binoculars. He was watching Wasp as she moved close to the building.

"She just slipped into one of the vents, Captain."

"Alright, we give her 15 minutes to find the power before we move in. You copy that, Wasp?"

"Copy that Captain. Fifteen minutes and counting. Hey dad, can you pull up the schematics for me? This place is a maze here."

The radio crackled and Hank's voice replied."Pulling it up now. Hmm, looks like you need to keep going straight for 2 meters then take a left."

"Alright. I went left, now where?"

"Five meters and then a right and then another five meters and you'll be there,"

Wasp flitted and weaved along the ceiling above the heads of the guards walking the hallways. It wasn't until she reached the power source that she noticed a problem.

"Uhh, dad? We have a problem."

"What sort of problem?"

"Oh nothing, except a integrated laser field incasing the door and more than likely the vent."

"Damn! It didn't show that in the schematics."

Steve's voice cut in, "Wasp, it looks like we'll have to go with plan b. You're going to need to find Syrena. We'll distract the guards. Ready, Pietro? Wanda?"

"Yes Captain."

"Wait, how are you going to-"

She was cut off by the Cap's reply. "We'll think of something. You'll know when."

She just shook her head and continued down the hallway past the power grid.

'Okay, if I was a frozen assassin-cicle, where would I be?'

She paused when she heard footsteps moving quickly down the hallway, followed by voices arguing fiercely with each other.

"I told you that this job was too dangerous!"

"Hey it pays good and its not that bad."

"Not that bad? We have a maniac for a boss and all we really do is protect that lady, and its not like she's going anywhere. Not when she's currently an icicle."

"See not bad. We just have to keep our heads down and not get noticed by the boss and make sure the lady popcicle doesn't wake up and we'll be just fine."

"Hey, now that you put it that way...it really doesn't sound that bad."

"I told you."

Hope zeroed in on them, sending a quick message to the Cap. "Found the two that regularly guard her cryo pod. Following them now."

She got no reply and gave a shrug. 'Well, looks like your solo on this one, Hope. Let's not mess this up.'

She quickly landed on the hat of the tallest guard and smiled to herself. 'Sorry boys, I hope you don't mind me hitching a ride.'

The guards still continued to bicker even when they came to a set of locked doors. The short guard quickly entered a code into the keypad close to him. The light turned green and the doors opened. Hope gasped at what she saw.

There was only one pod in the room and it was completely frozen over with ice. She couldn't make out who was inside but thanks to the guards, she already knew Syrena was inside. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get her out.

Just then the alarms blared to life and the short guard yelled again. "Oh, nothing to worry about, huh? Just a simple job, hmm? You idiot."

The taller guard looked sick. "We better go."

"Yeah, yeah, I know but what about the icicle?"

"Her power runs on a separate system from the security. She'll be fine."

"Alright then, lets go."

Hope quickly lifted into the air and flew behind the console nearest the tall guard and waited until the doors closed and sealed behind her. She shivered, it was ice cold in the room and it cut through her like a knife.

She flitted over the console, trying to see what would reverse the cryostasis and wake her up.

She sighed and hit the button to her radio. "Dad? I found her. She still in cryo. Its looks like she's been here for a long time."

"She has, Hope. Seventeen years. She's going to be very disorientated when she wakes up."

"Well, that's the problem. I'm in front of the control console for the pod and can't figure out how to start the reversal."

Bucky's voice cut in, "Then press all the buttons. Smash the damn thing if you have too."

"Wait a minute. What if we were to overload the system? Wouldn't that kick the precaution measures on?"

"Dad, that just might work."

"Alright, crazy ants inbound."

After a few minutes there was a soft chittering at one of the vents and Hope flitted to it and bent one of the corners up to allow the little orange ants inside. She guided half of them to the pod and half to the console. When they were in place she gave the go ahead and the air crackled with energy as wires burnt out and sparks flew.

The console sputtered on and off before going dark. The pod shuddered from the excess energy and then stilled. Just then the surface cracked and ice fell in tiny shards to the floor.

"Dad, I think it worked. The ice is falling off the pod right now."

The pod shuddered again and she could see the person inside starting to stir. She pressed her gloves once more and stood in front of the pod. She held her breath as twin eyes of green fire looked back at her. Those eyes held so much hatred and pain it made her take a step back.

The door to the pod groaned just as the doors to the room opened.

"Hey! Hands up! Now!"

Hope held her hands up slowly, cursing under her breath.

She had been caught.

"Hey, Birch, get the pod operational again, okay? I'll watch this one."

"Alright."

Birch moved to the console and pressed a few buttons and when nothing happened, he cursed.

"Damn it! Nothings working! Bitch fried the whole thing!"

They both looked at her and she shrugged, "Oops."

Birch held his gun up just as the door flew open and a small form tumbled to her hands and knees on the floor.

The guards looked at the young woman on the floor and them back at each other.

"Uh-oh."

Syrena lifted her eyes to the two of them and growled when she noticed the guns in their hands.

Birch took one look at her and turned his gun to her, "You stay back! You-"

Syrena didn't give him time to finish as she surged forward and grabbed his wrist. She twisted his wrist and it popped, ripping a scream from his throat.

His hand opened and dropped the gun right into her hand. Which she turned and shot at the other guard, dropping him with a single shot to the head before turning back and sending a kick to the side of Birch's skull, knocking him unconscious before putting a bullet in his head as well.

Hope visibly gagged at the sight of the man's brains splattered across the floor.

She gasped in pain, dropping to a knee, but held the gun up when Hope took a step forward.

"Don't take another step." Her voice was raspy from her time in the pod, but she otherwise looked healthy.

She flipped her faceplate up, keeping her hands where the other woman could see them. "It's okay. I'm a friend. Well, a friend of a friend, really. You know Bucky right?"

"Who the hell is Bucky?" She sounded genuinely confused and that's when the lightbulb went off in Hope's head.

"He's known by another name. The Winter Soldier?"

The gun wavered in her hand, "Moya zvezda? You know him? How?"

"He's the one who sent me."

The gun steadied on her again and Syrena growled low in her throat. "You're lying! If he wanted to save me, he would be here to do it himself. He wouldn't have sent someone else."

"I know, he warned me that you wouldn't believe me. That's why I have a recording here. He sent it with me for you to watch. Can I?"

"Show me. If I don't like the contents..."

Hope nodded at the silent threat and pulled the small video device from her waist and pulled the video up before handing it to Syrena.

She took it with her other hand and pressed play.

At the first sight of his face, the gun lowered to her side and she gasped. He looked so pale.

Blood loss. He was badly wounded. He looked a little older as well. His hair was longer and healthier looking too but he was still so handsome. She softly smiled at hearing his voice.

"Syrena, moy malen'kiy volk...its me, vasha zvezda. I need you to listen...There's no easy way to say this, its been seventeen years since you were frozen. Whoever is there with you now, Be it Wasp, Steve...err...Captain America, Pietro or Wanda, they are there to get you out of there. I'm nearby but wounded that's why I can't be there in person but they'll bring you straight to me. I trust them, you should too. LyubImaya, I've seen our daughter...I've seen Rebecca. She's alive but its complicated that's why we need you. I need you."

Syrena sunk to her knees and openly wept. Both her lover and her daughter were alive and safe.

"Where is he?"

"In a safehouse near here with my father. We just have to get out of here and I can take you to him."

Syrena's eyes hardened as she got to her feet. She pulled the clip from her gun, quickly counting the bullets before sliding the clip back home and cocking it. She grabbed the gun from the other guard and did the same.

"Ten bullets left. Plus another full clip in the other gun." She shrugged. "I guess it'll have to do."

"Wait, the Captain has something figured out. We won't have to fight."

She turned to Hope and shook her head. "I will get to moya zvezda, and no one is going to stop me."

Just then an explosion rocked the building and Hope knew that was the signal the Cap was talking about.

"Like I said, I don't think we'll have to fight."

A blur of blue and white blew through the doors and stopped right in front of them.

It was Pietro.

"Hello. Are you looking for the exit? It's this way." He grinned, pointing behind him.

Syrena snorted, training the gun on the young man. "Who's the jokester and can I shoot him?"


	20. Reunions

Pietro rolled his eyes. 'Really?'

"Oh yes, you two are definitely meant for each other."

She trained her gun on him, "Meant for whom?"

"Wait a minute, this is Pietro. He's an acquaintance of the Winter Soldier's."

The young woman looked him up and down before lowering her gun and giving a curt nod.

"Alright. Well, lead us out of here, jokester."

He gave a nod, "Yes, ma'am. Right this way. Don't worry about the other guards, they are a little occupied."

As they stepped into the hall, Syrena lifted her gun at the crimson tendrils swirling in the air around her.

"What the hell are these things?"

Pietro turned to her and smirked, "This is the product of my sister's 'gift'. She can use her powers to persuade people to do things they normally wouldn't do. That's how we're able to just walk past them."

She lowered her gun, but kept it cocked at her side. "Sure..."

They followed Pietro out the main doors and saw that the grounds were filled with guards laying down unconscious a few feet from Wanda.

Steve was standing right next to her, holding his shield at the ready.

Syrena threw an arm up to shield her eyes from the bright light of the outdoors. She uncocked her gun and stumbled a few steps before crumpling to her knees. The gun fell to the gravel and her hands clutched at the earth as she took great gasping breaths of fresh air.

'Seventeen years.'

"I haven't been outside in seventeen years..." She croaked.

Steve looked down at her and frowned at her words. "Well, it won't happen again. I promise you that."

"You can't promise that. Not even moya zvezda could promise that, so what makes you so sure you can?" She snorted before she finally looked up at him. She gasped.

"Because I never give up and I know for a fact Bucky doesn't either. My name's Steve. I'm C-"

"Captain America. Yeah, I know who you are. You're Hydra's number one target. Me and my love were training to kill you."

Cap gripped his shield, "And now?"

Her eyes hardened and the anger he saw there made him wince.

"Now Hydra will pay. They shouldn't have kidnapped my daughter and taken moya zvezda from me."

Wanda turned her eyes to Syrena and nodded, "We mustn't stay here any longer. We should return to the safehouse. Who knows-"

A shot rang out and Pietro watched in slow motion as his sister's body jerks from the impact of the bullet and crumples to the ground. Syrena grabs the dropped gun, jumping forward to tackle her to the ground, before she turns and fires the gun twice.

Steve watches in horror and slight awe as the sniper falls from his perch...100 meters across the way.

She had just killed that sniper with a handgun 100 meters away.

"Damn sniper doesn't know how to shoot. She's been hit in the stomach, it doesn't look like its hit anything fatal, but I'll still heal her."

Pietro looks at her strangely, "What do you mean heal her? You don't have any medical supplies with you."

"Kid, you still have a lot to learn." She places her hands on the dirt on either side of Wanda and closes her eyes in concentration.

They all watch in awe as the ground around Wanda begins to glow. The glow sinks into Syrena's hands and disappears. She then places her hands over the wound and presses down slightly, ripping a pained groan from Wanda's lips. The light re-emerges before sinking into the wound. As it does, the bleeding slows and the skin slowly knits back together.

"You'll still have a scar, but it's better than bleeding to death, isn't it?"

Wanda nodded, "Scars are nothing. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." She moved to stand up but lurched forward at the last second. She wouldn't slammed into the ground if it wasn't for Pietro's speed at catching her. He lifted her up into his arms and noticed how light she was.

"She's passed out from exhaustion more than likely. What should I do Captain."

Steve shook his head, "Since you have her, go ahead and take her to the safehouse where Hank and Bucky are. I think seeing a familiar face when she wakes up will put her in a better mood. We'll be there shortly."

The speedster nodded, "Yes, Captain." And in a split second he was gone.

Steve pressed a finger to his com, "Hank, Pietro's inbound. He has Syrena with him. She's unconcious."

'I think we're going to have to have a talk, Buck.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Bucky's stomach was in knots and he could hardly sit still, much to the displeasure of Hank.

"Calm down, sergeant. You'll see her soon enough."

"Yeah, I know, but the last time we saw each other..."He ran a hand through his hair. "I was a much different person than I am now. I was an assassin. Hydra's lap-dog. They would say 'heel' and I would heel. They said kill..."

"You'd kill? No matter the target, right?"

"Someone once asked me if I remembered the people I killed."

Hank's eyes widened, "Do you?"

Bucky's eyes shone with unshed tears, "I remember all of them, but the one I regret the most..." He took a deep breath and shook his head, "I killed Howard and Maria Stark."

Dr. Pym's hands curled into fists at his sides. "It was marked down as an accident."

"I was told to make it look like an accident. A well-placed bullet made the tire blow out."

Hank inhaled and let it out in a long exhale, "I should yell and scream, or at least try to kill you...I bet a lot of people have done the same, right?"

Bucky nodded.

"Well, I won't."

The younger man looked up at him in shock.

Hank shrugged, "You weren't the one in control, they were. I know Hydra, son, and they will do anything, USE anything in their arsenal as a means to their end. Yeah, I'm angry as hell, but not at you. So don't beat yourself up about it, okay?"

Hank's com crackled to life and Steve's voice could be heard on the other side.

"Hank, Pietro's inbound. She has Syrena with him. She's unconscious."

Bucky tried getting up but stopped when Hank gave him a pointed look.

"Don't you dare, son. You stay put."

"But Syrena-"

The door flew open and Pietro was standing right in front of him, cradling Syrena in his arms.

The former assassin held his breath at seeing Syrena's face again. She looked the same as she did in the video that started all this. Her hair was long and a deep rich chocolate brown and her body still held the softened curves of motherhood. He swallowed hard at that thought.

They had conceived and had a child together.

A child that they now had to save from the clutches of Viper.

The speedster's voice cut through his thoughts. "Is there someplace I can set her?"

Hank motioned to the couch next to Bucky's chair. "I think It would be best if you set her there. Here let me move a few things..."

He removed all the cushions but one, leaving that to support Syrena's head.

Pietro gently laid her down and looked at Bucky. "She's not wounded. She healed Wanda though."

He got a shocked look at that.

"She healed her? What happened?"

"Sniper, but she got him and with a handgun 100 meters away..."

Bucky shook his head, "that's nothing. She can make the same shot at 1000 meters and hit her mark dead center."

Hank looked shocked this time, "How do you know that?"

"Because I taught her to."

"Well, that certainly explains things." A voice said from the door.

Bucky turned and noticed the questioning look Steve was giving him.

His eyes dropped to the floor, "Hydra wanted soldiers that could kill from any distance and any vantage point. We had to mark and take out our targets as soon as we found them and then disappear just as fast, making sure to leave no trace. And absolutely no witnesses."

"but you broke that rule."

"Yeah. Well, when I had found her, she put a kitchen knife in my left arm and disabled it. That was a pretty good move for a seven year old. So I took her with me and trained her. She became the Winter's Wolf. Moy malen'kiy volk."

Steve gave him an odd look and Wanda smiled.

"It means 'my little wolf' Captain."

A low groan caught their attention and they all turned to watch the young woman as she twitched and turned onto her side.

Her eyes opened and familiar green eyes stared blankly at the room. He shifted in his seat and the green eyes cleared and focused on him. They widened and she gave a gasp, and jumped up to a sitting position. She swayed as the motion caused a wave of dizziness to hit her. She clutched the couch to steady her and when the dizziness passed, she stood and took a step towards him.

He reached a hand out to her, "Moy malen'kiy volk? Syrena?"

She clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her sob. "Moya zvezda? You're really here? I'm not imagining it?"

Bucky shook his head, "Net, moy malen'kiy boyets. I'm really here."

She slapped him.

"Seventeen years! Why did it take seventeen years to come get me?!"

Bucky's eyes hardened and he shakily stood, looking down at her with hardened eyes. She took a step back.

Steve moved to take a step forward but was stopped by Hank's hand on his arm. He looked at the doctor questioningly, but only received a shake of the head in response.

He understood the silent reply, 'Don't interfere.'

The former assassin's voice was deadly calm as he replied, "I was too busy having my memory wiped every 6 weeks, sometimes every three weeks. It all depended on how quickly the wipe would be broken. It took me nearly beating Steve to death for it to finally be broken. And even then I wasn't free, not with those trigger words floating around in my mind. And damn it, I'm sorry! I-"

Bucky was cut short when she took a step forward and gripping his shirt with both hands, yanked him forward and slammed their lips together.  
He groaned.

This he remembered more clearly than the other memories of her. She always kissed with fire and aggression. And he remembered letting himself be burnt numerous times.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled their mouths apart. "I'm sorry. I should've fought that day. I should've killed that bastard right then and there."

She smiled sadly, "He was holding a gun to her head, my love. He would've killed her. You made the right decision although it was a painful one for all of us."

Bucky pressed another kiss to her lips.

She shook her head. "Now you had mentioned in your message that our daughter is alive but its complicated? How complicated?"

"Viper has her."

Syrena took a step back from him breathing heavily and snarled in anger, "Viper!? How did that deceptive bitch get a hold of our daughter?!"

"Strucker gave her to Viper after an incident at his facility occurred."

Pietro wanted the floor to open up and swallow him in that moment. He knew what was coming and Syrena still had her gun. He swallowed hard.

His sister grabbed his hand and gave him a soft smile.

As if saying, 'I'm here, brother. We will face this together.'

"What incident?"

"Wanda and Pietro were-are friends with Becky. Well, Strucker found Pietro and Becky in a compromising position."

Pietro snorted, 'Compromising...sure.'

Syrena's eyes fell on him and narrowed. "Strucker found you two in bed, didn't he?"

'Well, I'm a dead man.'

He nodded.

He was suddenly very confused when she smirked and shook her head. "Sounds like us a time or two when we were under Strucker's command. Well, at least she choose a cute one."

Bucky stared at her in silent shock. "What? Syrena, they slept together and you're okay with it?"

She shrugged, smirking playfully at him. "Oh its not like we didn't sneak around either. Or do you need me to recount all the times we were caught? I think the most memorable one was that boiler room at the Slovenian embassy, you remember that one?"

Steve's jaw dropped and he shook his head as a chuckle escaped him. He received a glare from his friend. He held up his hands.

"Sorry Buck, but its a little funny. I think this is the first time I've ever seen you blush."

Syrena threw her head back and laughed. When her laughter died down she surged forward, grabbing Pietro and slamming him into the wall behind him.

"I don't care about what you and my daughter do in private, but hurt her and they will find your body piece by piece over the course of the next 5 years. Got it?"

Pietro furiously shook his head in assent.

"Y-yes ma'am."

She patted his cheek, "Good boy."

She released her grip and he dropped to his feet as she had lifted him a foot off the ground during her threat.

Syrena turned to Bucky and smiled, "So, 'Bucky', when do we leave?"


	21. Sneaking Out & A New Plan

Rebecca was silent the entire trip to the south side of the city. Of course being the 'pet' assassin she really never spoke so it wasn't completely out of character for her so the guards never suspected anything out of turn.

The guards were in the front chatting between them in English, oblivious to the fact that she could understand them. She played along, staring at her bound hands. She was hoping that they would drop their guard and let slip some information that could be useful to her.

"Hey, what are we supposed to do with her?" The driver jerked a thumb back at their passenger.

Rebecca's eyes narrowed at his words. 'What about me?'

The other guard shrugged, "Don't know. The boss didn't sound particularily happy with her 'pet' last time I spoke with her. Apparently if this doesn't pan out and she doesn't complete her targets, we're supposed to terminate her."

Becky inwardly growled, Apparently Viper had thought of every contingency. 'Damn it.'

So she had only two options left...

Escape or die.

Rebecca shook her head at the last one. Death wasn't an option to her. Not now. Not when she just found out who she was. she had her whole future riding on this.

She only hoped that what ever path she choose after this that Pietro would be there for her just like he'd always been before.

She smiled softly to herself at the memory that thought dredged up.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

It was the fourth time they had fought. They had both again beaten each other to the brink of exhaustion. Her final move beaing to grab his shoulders and flip him, holding on to land on top of him straddling his abdomen and holding a blade to his throat.

"You win yet again, little moon. How do you do that?"

"You are still too slow, moy vikhr'."(My whirlwind)

She smirked at the surprised look on his face. That was the first time she had ever dared to call him by a name other than 'Maximoff' and it had felt...good.

"The guards change watch at midnight." He whispered.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Meet me later tonight? We need to talk and I'd rather do this away from 'them'."

'Could I do that? Sneak out with Pietro?' Well its not like it would too difficult to do. The guards were rather stupid.

She gave a quick nod.

He grinned up at her and the bright blue light that made up his eyes turned a darker blue that made her skin tingle and the room suddenly felt much too warm.

They were interrupted by Strucker's voice yelling over the intercom. "That's enough for today! Asset, you will stand down and allow Maximoff to his feet."

She gave a visible nod, but before she moved Pietro quickly surged forward and pressed his lips to hers for a split second before disappearing and reappearing a foot away.

Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

He had kissed her.

She smiled at him and let her head drop forward so her bangs could cover her face as she gently touched her lips.

Pietro had kissed her.

And he wanted her to sneak out to meet him at midnight. This funny feeling inside her chest only happened when she was around him and she rather liked it.

A lot.

She quickly wiped the smile from her face and glared at the guards when they approached her with guns drawn. They really knew how to ruin her good moods. She growled low in her throat at them making two stop in their tracks and grip their guns tighter.

She shook her head at their blatant stupidity but let them lead her away but not before sneaking a look back at Pietro and giving him a small smile.

He smiled in return and nodded.

"Same time tomorrow, little girl?"

"Yes, and I'll give you the same lesson again, slowpoke."

The door closed behind her just as he sputtered a response, "I'm faster than I was a month ago. What do you mean, Slowpoke?!"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

That night she laid awake and counted down the seconds to midnight.

10...9...8...7...6...

She smiled to herself but the smile quickly fell as she thought about the cameras in her room. They were in every corner of her room, how was she supposed to get past them?

5...4...3...2...1...

She took a deep breath.

It was midnight.

Just then a beeping noise caught her attention and she looked up and watched in confusion as one by one the camera's shut off. The lock on her door clicked and when she pressed a hand against it, it gave way and swung open, revealing Pietro on the other side. She grinned.

"How did you-"

"You are not the only one with skills, moya malen'kaya luna. Now don't move, I have to support your neck for this next part, okay?"

She was defensive of course but this was Pietro, he could be trusted. She was sure of it.

She gave a nod and he stepped close to her and gently gripped her neck at the base of her skull and smiled softly at her.

"Just breath okay?"

And they were gone.

She felt like she was flying they were moving so fast. And just as suddenly as they had started moving they had stopped and she gasped.

They were outside.

The night sky above her swirled with brilliant waves of colored lights and her eyes widened, letting the sight flood her eyes.

"Do you like it?"

"We're outside."

"Yeah, I thought you would like it. Do you?"

She shrugged, "I've never been outside."

When she looked up at him she was confused to see anger and hate in his eyes.

"You mean to tell me that they have never allowed you outside?"

"It wasn't a part of my training at the time. Plus I think they were afraid of me running away."

"Did you want to?"

"Run away? No. Where would I go? I don't know anyone other than the Hydra personal here and even that is limited."

"I don't like it. A beautiful girl like you, shut away from the world like...like an animal."

She shook her head, "I am an animal though. Just an asset to use as they see fit. Nothing else."

He surged forward and grabbed her arms and shook her roughly, "You are not an animal, little moon. You are a person. A breath-takingly beautiful woman who deserves to live a normal life away from all this."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"What?"

"You keep calling me beautiful. Why?"

He smiled at her, "I thought that would be obvious."

"What would be obvious?"

"I'm attracted to you. Have been since we first met. And I'd like to kiss you again, properly this time."

Her heart stuttered in her chest and she laid a hand over it. "What is this feeling?"

He looked at her slightly confused, "What? What's wrong?"

She pressed the hand harder against her chest, "This feeling. Like my heart wants to escape my chest and I always want to smile around you and when your gone I feel...lost."

He grinned brightly at her and chuckled before stepping close to her. He lifted a hand to trace fingers softly across her cheek.

She shivered.

"I do believe that is called attraction, moya vozlyublennaya." (my sweetheart)

"Oh, then you feel the same?"

"Yes. All the time."

"Then-" She was cut off by his lips pressing against hers softly.

When he pulled back, she pressed her fingers to her lips, letting out a slow breathy, "Oh."

That had felt good. Far better than that first kiss earlier today. If they kissed longer, would it feel even better than that?

He moved to speak but was interrupted by her gripping his shirt in both her hands and pulling him forward and slamming their lips together.

He groaned, using his hands to quickly loosen her hair from its braid and letting it fall around her shoulders freely before tangling a hand in the silver tresses. His other hand slid around her waist and pulled her body firmly against his.

She melted against him, one thought still swirling around her head.

'Kissing longer is definitely far better.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

The driver's voice cut through her memory and brought her back to the present.

"Soldier, we've arrived at the location you gave us."

She nodded and motioned to the door. She had to have her hands and arms free before she could make her move. Then she could escape.

The other guard stepped out and walked around the back of the vehicle and stood at the ready, gun pointed directly at her.

The driver finally stepped out and un-fastened his pistol before unlocking her door and opening it. He grabbed her arm and helped her out.

When she was standing he turned her around and unlocked to cuffs that bound her wrists together. She placed her hands on the back of her neck, remembering the tingle she felt at Pietro's touch there, and turned slowly to face them.

The other guard held a FN P90 out to her and nodded.

"Complete your mission, soldier."

Her eyes lit up with excitement and she smiled behind the mask they gave her. She gently took the P90 from him and checked it over quickly.

'Time for a new game, Viper.'

She looked the guard directly in the eye when she spoke, "Thank you."

His eyes widened in shock but before both could move she had already opened fire on them.

Both were dead before they hit the ground.

She took their guns and stuffed them into a bag along with other supplies that she had found in the back of their vehicle. She had decided to keep one of the radios and smashed the other under a boot. She shrugged the bag onto her good shoulder and took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow hiss. She had made her decision and squared her shoulders in determination.

"Let's see how you like being the hunted one this time."


	22. Ace Up the Sleeve

Steve's radio went off and the rather annoyed voice of Sam cut through the air, "Cap, we're in town, now can you please come get us? I don't know how much more of Luis's story-telling I can take..."

Dr. Pym shook his head and turned back to his computer with a snort of laughter.

Hope on the other hand threw her head back and laughed loudly. "Of course he'd take you to Luis the two are practically inseparable!"

The radio crackled to life again, "Hey is that Hope? Where have you been?"

"Around."

"Around? Wait, you can't give me that kind of answer!"

She snorted in derision, "I'm sending you coordinates to meet us at, please try to get there on time."

"Hey, if its about our date-"

The radio cut out as she quickly pressed the mute button. She avoided her father's eyes and busied herself with typing in the coordinates they had agreed to meet at.

"You have something to tell me, Hope?"

"Nothing at the moment."

"Really?" He crossed his arms and stared at her amusedly. "I've already caught you two kissing. I kind of figured you two would start dating at some point."

Her eyes whipped towards her father, "I-it was a stupid idea and he didn't show up."

"Why is that?"

"Luis just had to talk to him. Said it was urgent. And the next day he was flying off to Vienna."

Steve winced, "That may have been my fault, Ms. Pym. Sam said he knew someone that could help so I had him bring them in."

She shrugged, "Apology accepted, now lets go."

"Wait, do we even know where Rebecca is right now?" Syrena questioned.

Steve stepped up beside her, "She's being taken to the south side of the city. That's where she told them we would be, but we don't have long before Viper finds out that she's just pretending-"

"-And gives the order for her to be terminated. I know how it goes with Hydra, Cap." Syrena finished for him.

He nodded gravely, "That's why we've gotta move now to secure Becky before that even happens then we can take the fight to Viper once and for all."

The alarm on Dr. Pym's computer decided at that moment to go off and when he checked it, his face paled.

"Umm, Captain, we have a problem."

"What is it, Hank?"

My computers are tied into the police scanners and we just got a hit. Double homicide on the south side, both victims were wearing military style uniforms. The uniforms had pins on them. Skulls with tentacles."

Bucky growled, "Hydra."

Hank nodded, "It seems your daughter's impatient to strike back at Viper and given her history with the woman, I wouldn't blame her."

Pietro shook his head, "She's going to get herself killed."

"I trained her. Its not likely."

Syrena looked at Bucky with horror in her eyes, "You trained her? When?"

"A year ago. Its when I was working for a man named Pierce. I didn't even recognize her, Sy."

She shook her head, "I can't believe they would do that. And they had to have known who she was."

"Oh they did. Pierce told me that I was going to be training the 'next generation' of Hydra soldier. That bastard."

The Cap shook his head, "Can we table this discussion for another time? We need to find Rebecca before the police or worse before Viper does."

He turned to Bucky and raised an eyebrow, "Do you think you can manage?"

"Hell yeah. Let's go get my daughter."

Syrena laid a hand on his metal arm, "You mean OUR daughter."

Bucky nodded, a soft smile on his lips as he traced a finger down her cheek. "Our daughter."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

The scientist swallowed hard as his hand raised to knock on the door in front of him. He didn't want to do this, but if he kept it from her, he would still die but much more painfully.

His hand paused, shaking at the thought of his impending death. Why was he the one chosen for this? I guess being the intern really doesn't help your chances in situations like this. He began to chuckle but stifled it quickly lest he become hysterical. That would not be helpful.

He squared his shoulders and took a shaky breath. If there was one thing his family was known for it was bravery in the face of doom.

'Well, here goes.'

His knuckles rapped on the door twice in quick succession.

"Come in!"

He opened the door and immediately a chill ran down his spine at the wide smile Viper gave him.

"Ahh! The test results correct?"

He could only nod to which she laughed half-heartedly.

"Now, now, no need to be shy, Mr?"

"Doctor Malvern, ma'am."

She snapped her fingers and held out her hand for the files he was holding. "Well, Dr. Malvern, don't keep me waiting, how did my girl do?"

"Preliminary results were very promising of course..."

Her eyes narrowed and he gulped. 'Here goes.'

"I have a feeling there's a 'but' in there somewhere. Am I correct in my assumption?"

He nodded and quickly cowered back a few steps when she surged to her feet, annoyance written plainly on her face. "What went wrong?"

"We had that device implanted as a failsafe, in case the conditioning broke of course."

"Of course and it worked beautifully."

He winced and she stepped around her desk and stood right in front of him. His whole body shook as she smiled sickeningly sweet at him.

"What happened?"

"W-well, w-when those orange ants of Dr. Pym's shocked the asset...I-it...w-well, they kind of broke the device."

Her smile fell. "What?"

"The device isn't active. She's not currently under Hydra control."

She stepped closer to him and raised a hand to his face, he flinched and she shushed him.

"Oh, there's no need for that. Nothings going to happen. Now what else can you tell me from the results?"

He gulped loudly, "Well, it seems the device was never active to begin with. We also received reports that a Hydra base in Washington has been attacked."

Her lips thinned and her eyes flashed with fire, "Which base?"

"Sector 16, quadrant C. The one holding Syr-" His words turned to a strangled gasp as she gripped his face in both hands and leaned close to him, pressing her lips to his.

His eyes widened for a moment when she pulled back and he gave a small smile. 'Well, that was unexpected.'

Then he realized she wasn't smiling back and the color drained from his face.

"Goodbye, Dr. Malvern. It was ever so nice while it lasted. Don't worry, your family will be well taken care of in your absence."

The poison flooded his veins, wracking his body with debilitating agonizing pain and when he felt at the wetness on his face, his hand pulled away covered in blood. He crumpled to his hands and knees and vomited blood all over the carpet below him.

His only thought was of his wife, 'Oh god, please not my Tess.' Then his eyes clouded over as he was consumed by darkness and he slumped over dead.

Viper stood there watching the whole thing eerily bored at the sight.

She sighed before his previous words threw her back into a rage.

'The device was never active to begin with.'

How? How could it not be active? She herself saw as her pet crumbled under its control...unless...

She smirked, "Oh my dear girl, apparently your father trained you too well. Well, this will certainly make things more interesting."

Her thoughts then turned to Syrena and she gripped the edge of her desk tightly. 'So the unworthy bitch is awake.'

"Well, you won't be able to enjoy your freedom for long, she-wolf because I am going to make you suffer for taking him from me. Starting with your little bastard child."

She leaned over and pressed the intercom button on her phone.

The other side picked up after only one ring, "Yes, Mistress Hydra?"

She sighed deeply, "I need a cleanup crew in here. There's an unsightly mess on my carpet that needs to be taken care of."

"Yes, Mistress."

Viper turned to the monitor the right of her and looked at it thoughtfully for a minute before grabbing the remote and pressing play.

She grinned at the video and shook her head laughing.

It was a recording of a little dark haired toddler playing with blocks. He was silent except for the squeal he would let out whenever the blocks fell over softly crashing to the floor.

"My dear, dear little one, whatever are we going to do with your parents? They just don't realize that I'm holding quite the ace up my sleeve, don't they, moya malen'kiy vikhr'." (my little whirlwind)

He looked up at the camera just then but his eyes were pure silver and the air around him seemed to crackle with blue electricity.

"Oh, yes, quite the ace."


	23. Fireworks & Aces Revealed

A slender figure quickly made their way across a sparsely populated parking lot. They were carrying a black duffel bag and looked like they were just leaving the gym, but the building they exited wasn't a gym...it was an office building.

They stumbled into a nearby alleyway before finally slumping against a large dumpster, dropping the bag at their feet. The figure pushed back the hoodie obscuring their face to reveal a pale face splattered with blood before gripping at their shoulder. Silver eyes narrowed to protect against the bright light and her bloodied lips morphed into a smirk.

'Well that was fun.'

Rebecca threw a glance behind her and briefly studied the office building she had just left. It was all a façade, the office a clever cover for yet another Hydra base.

She looked down at her shoulder, blood seeping from between her fingers. She would have to stitch it closed...after she fished the bullet out of course, but first she had a mission to complete.

She reached into her pocket and pulled a small device free. She smirked, "Hope you like the fireworks, Viper. There's more to come."

With a click, she pushed the large red button on the device and three seconds later the building exploded sending a small whoosh of hot wind 5 blocks out.

The explosion sent chunks of concrete and steel flying out over the surrounding area like a deadly rainstorm. Windows shattered and out flooded a wave of smoke and flames. Wires snapped, hitting the pavement like whips. The split ends sparking with un-grounded electricity. People screamed loudly and the shrill, harsh tone of alarms going off was nearly deafening to her, but she just shook her head with a smile.

"One down, two to go."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Cap wanted to laugh at the exasperated look on Sam's face when he stepped out of his vehicle.

He apparently didn't like Luis very much.

"Sam."

"Finally you get here Cap. I was wondering if you were pranking me."

He shook his head, "Not a prank. We ran into some problems."

"What kind of problems?"

Just then the passenger side door of the SUV opened and out stepped Syrena which caused Sam's eyes to widen.

He quickly glanced at Steve and then back at Syrena, a question in his eyes.

Steve nodded, "This is Syrena. Rebecca's mother."

Sam held a hand out to her but she just stared at his hand like it was a snake.

"I'm not going to bite."

She smiled, "I don't shake hands without gloves."

Bucky stepped up behind her and laid gloves on her shoulder. "And apparently that's why I always carry a pair of woman's gloves with me. I found these in my bag."

Syrena smiled sweetly at him, quickly kissing him on the cheek before pulling them on. "I almost always forget mine which made you aggravated, so you took up carrying an extra pair for me. Just in case."

She held her hand out to Sam which he shook.

He motioned to her hands, "So why the gloves?"

She shrugged, "Emotional transference. It's a side effect of my abilities."

"Emotional what?"

"I'm empathic. I can sense people's emotions and if they're strong enough it can effect me physically."

"Doesn't sound so good."

"No. No it doesn't."

Cap cleared his throat, "There's another problem as well. Rebecca has gone on the run and apparently wants to get back at Viper."

Scott whistled low, "Well, I really wouldn't blame the kid, you know?"

Steve nodded, "But she's killing people doing it and endangering innocent lives as well. We can't have that. We need to find her and fast, before Viper does."

"Then what do we do?" Sam asked.

He gave a quick nod, "We need to split up and go block by block. We're right in the area that she was last seen in, so we shouldn't be too far behind."

Bucky shook his head, "You forget that I helped train her, Steve. If she doesn't want to be found, she won't."

Sam and Scott looked at him in shock to which he nodded sadly.

"It was while I was under Hydra's control. They threw us into a room and that first time I nearly broke every bone in her body. She still fought against the guards when they came in to get her." He snorted, "She bit one of the guards' ears off for Christ's sake!"

His hands clenched at his sides, the movement making his shoulder twinge. It was already nearly healed.

Syrena laid a hand on his cheek, "You didn't know it was her. If you had-"

He ripped away from her, "How do you know that? You can't. They turned me into the worst kind of monster, Sy, you know that. I wasn't kind to you in the beginning of your training. I was cruel to you just as I was cruel to Becky. So don't say that if I knew it was her that I might have stopped...you don't know that. After all you weren't even ther-"

The force of her punch whipped his head to the side and he flinched.

"You son of a bitch! I didn't have a choice in that. They fucking froze me for seventeen years! If I had had my way, I would have been there to raise our daughter but instead she had to be raised by that bastard Strucker and then that crazy bitch Viper!"

Bucky sent her a pained look, "I shouldn't have said that. You're right, you didn't have a choice."

:"And neither did you." She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side, "So?"

Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, "I-I'm sorry, alright?"

She smiled brightly and pulled him down for a brief kiss. When she pulled back, she mumbled against his lips, "I'm sorry for punching you, but you asked for it."

She released him and took a step back, turning to the others with a smirk. "What?"

Steve opened his mouth to speak but a muffled boom sounded in the distance, getting the whole group's attention.

"Was that an-"

Bucky shook his head, "An explosion? Yes, but it couldn't be Becky. She wouldn't try to bring attention to herself. Not if she wants to kill Viper."

"Why?"

"Stick to the shadows and then when its the right time, you strike."

Steve's phone decided then to go off and when he checks the screen, he sighs loudly.

"It's Hank."

He answered, putting the phone on speaker.

"Cap?"

"Hank? What's wrong? Is it Becky?"

"Unfortunately yes, Several security cameras from different businesses in the area have footage of a young woman matching her appearance on them. Most recent was before a local office building exploded."

Steve turned to Bucky and narrowed his eyes at him, "Well. it seems like Becky's trying to get caught."

Pietro shook his head, "But why? She's free now, why jeopardize that?"

"I think I might answer that, Mr. Maximoff. Apparently that office building was a front for a Hydra base. When I did some more digging into it, I found some 'interesting' files on both you and Rebecca."

"What kind of files. Doc?" Bucky questioned.

Steve's phone beeped again, signaling a text and what he read made his heart drop.

'Give me my pet back and your son will live.'

He showed it to the others and Bucky just shook his head, confused.

"Boy? What boy?"

His eyes turned to Pietro and Wanda and they were both just as confused as he was.

"There were five of us but the other three didn't survive. Rebecca was considered separate from us."

"Captain, I just received a file from an anonymous source. I think it's from Viper."

"Send it to me."

"Got it."

His phone beeped a few seconds later and he pulled the file up and pressed play.

Bucky stood behind his shoulder, Syrena tucked in close while Pietro and Wanda looked over the other shoulder.

Viper sat smiling brightly at the screen, "Now don't bother wondering how I found you all so quickly, that doesn't matter. You see I want my darling girl back. She's very special to me and I would hate not to see her again. If you do not return or better yet if she doesn't return to me of her own free will, I will kill little Pyotr. Familiar sounding name isn't it? Oh, you're all probably wondering who I'm talking about so," She smiled brightly and rubbed her hands together before motioning to someone off camera, "I'll just have to introduce you."

A guard comes into view carrying a small boy with a head full of dark curls and handing him over to her.

Recognition doesn't hit anyone until the boy is turned to face the camera and silver eyes sparkle in the dim light.

Pietro's jaw drops open in shock and he goes pale at the sight of those eyes. He swears that those are Becca's eyes staring right back at him.

'What?!'

Viper laughs when the boy growls at the camera, "Captain, I know Pietro might have told you that he and Becca were caught in bed, correct? Shortly after that she was given to me to finish her training. There were complications that made finishing her training not possible at the time."

Bucky's hands clenched tight into fists at that statement. He had a sinking feeling he wasn't going to like where this was going.

Viper grins, "Well might I introduce you to the reason for that..."

She bounces the little toddler on her knee and Pietro's heart clenches in his chest. 'It can't be...'

"This is Pyotr Maximoff...Becca and Pietro's son."


	24. Turning the Tide

Pietro's mind was a storm of emotions. He had a son...with Becca. 'Pyotr.' The eyes were all Rebecca's but that smile...he had seen it far too many times on his own face in the mirror.

Bucky was livid but not with Pietro this time. Viper was a twisted psychotic monster. First using Rebecca against them and now little Pyotr.

'My grandson.' That thought made him pause. He had a grandson.

The video cut out and then cut back in. Viper smiled at the camera, "Oh, and one more thing...little Pyotr is very special. He's only three but he has so much potential in him." She looked down at the boy and cooed at him, the boy didn't make a sound but reached out his arms towards her. When she handed him to the waiting guard, he growled menacingly. Then all of a sudden he was back in Viper's arms.

She laughed, "You see? Like father, like son."

Then the video went black.

Wanda gasped, "How? I thought that you two hadn't..."

Pietro shook his head, "I wasn't about to share that with you sis, even if you are my twin. It was between me and her and no one else."

Steve silently agreed with the young man but he still had one question. "But why didn't Strucker keep her at the time?"

Pietro shrugged, "Maybe he didn't want me to know about Pyotr. Maybe he thought that if I knew about the pregnancy that I would fight against him...who knows. He's dead now so we won't know for sure what his real reasoning behind it was. All I know is that we have to rescue him all while keeping Becca from her grasp."

Bucky placed a hand on his shoulder, "I agree. I'm not too happy about this news but it was kept from you just as it was kept from me about Becca for the longest time. We have to save them both."

"But exactly how do we do that?" Scott asked.

Pietro paused for a minute before a wide grin spread across his face. "I think I have an idea."

He turned his eyes to stare at Scott who looked confusedly back at him.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Hope grinned, "I think it just might work."

Cap nodded, then pointed at her. "That may be, but you're going too."

The grin quickly fell from her face, "What?"

"Having two avengers there could be crucial especially if one of you gets caught."

There's a problem with that...we still need to find Becky first." Syrena grumbled.

"Hank can you get a lock on Becky using the local security cameras?"

Dr. Pym's amused voice answered over the speaker, "You do know who you're talking to right? Well, yes I can and I already have. I did it all while you were planning your next move."

Bucky smirked, "Doc, I think you like being one step ahead of everyone else, don't you?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you sure implied it."

"Do you want her location or not?"

"Where is she at, Hank?" Steve questioned.

"Sending you the location now. I think you better send Pietro on ahead to stall for time. Plus I think those two need to talk."

"Thanks doc."

"Don't mention it. Oh and Scott..."

"Yeah doc?"

"The sooner you realize that women are always right, the better off you'll be, especially when it comes to Hope."

"Hank-"

"You better get moving. She won't be there for long."

"Got it. Thanks doc."

The line went silent and Steve turned to Pietro, "Take the phone with you. It has the location and the video on it. Maybe seeing the video will jog some of the memories they repressed. Try to stall her and keep her there as long as you can. Can you do that?"

The young man took the offered phone and slid it into his pants' pocket and nodded. "Yes I can. Like the doctor said 'Little moon' and I have some things to discuss."

Bucky motioned to the other room, "Talk."

Pietro followed the older man with a lump in his throat. What was going to happen? Was Bucky going to hit him again? Or worse, maybe he was actually going to kill him this time...God everything has just been turned upside down and now Bucky wanted to 'talk' to him...what the hell was going on?

When they stepped into the other room, Bucky spun on him and grabbed his hand so fast that Pietro fell back into a defensive pose.

"Easy kid, I just need you todo something for me. Can you give this to Becky for me? I didn't know at first why I carried this with me in my bag all the time, at least not until Steve showed me that video of Becky being born."

When Pietro opened his hand, he gasped. It was a piece of Selenite shaped similar to the one Becky gave him.

He looked up at the man in shock, "Where did you get this?"

The other man shrugged, "Don't know. I think Syrena gave it to me." He paused, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling before giving a laugh, "Wait, I remember...she did. Heh...It was how she told me that she was pregnant. 'The moon full and bright, like our future.' I think that's what she said."

"The moon is full and bright, its silver light a comfort in the dark, a promise of better days, like our future together."  
Pietro corrected him.

Bucky looked at him shocked, "What? How did you-"

"Becca gave me a piece of Selenite as well and said that same saying to me. I thought she had just wanted me to have something to remember her by. If I had known what she was trying to tell me then...damn it! I would have fought harder."

The words had struck Pietro like a lightening bolt bringing a bittersweet memory to the forefront of his mind.

'Little moon.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

They had snuck out one more time, deciding on a different spot to meet, lest they be caught again.

Pietro shook his head, if they were, then little moon would suffer the worst of it and he would be damned if they hurt her again.

"Piet? Are you there?"

He smiled down at her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "Yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"I told you before that they can't hurt me any worse than what they have already done. Now are you going to kiss me again or do I have to take one from you?"

He laughed, "You only have to ask and you shall receive."

She ran her hands up his chest, "Then, moy vikhr', kiss me...Make me feel something other than pain again."

His shoulders squared with determination as he threaded his fingers through her hair and dragging her flush against his body. They both groaned at the contact. It was like electricity sparking whenever they connected and it was an exhilarating sensation.

He devoured her lips in a heated, bruising kiss that made fire coil tight in his abdomen and spread outward through his limbs.

Pietro had kissed plenty of girls before and always felt like something had been missing, that was until he kiss Little moon that first time. That was when he knew why he always felt empty all those times before. He hadn't been kissing her. She was a cool breeze of a blistering hot day...a gentle rain after days of drought, she was his bright light in the darkness of his life. And he loved her.

It hit him like a punch low to the gut.

He loved her.

Pietro pulled away, breathing heavily. "Little Moon?"

"Yes, Piet?"

"I love you."

She smiled brightly and his heart ached to see it.

"Ya lyublyu tebya, moy vikhr'." (I love you, my whirlwind.)

That night under the stars was the first night they had shared of each other so completely. They shared not only their hearts but their bodies as well. He remembered how his hands shook at the first touch of her alabaster skin. He traced all the scars on her pale skin and remembered the tears he had cried for her that night. He remembered how his skin felt electrified at every touch of her fingers. Her eyes had looked at him so full of trust and love that it made his heart swell. He caressed, soothed, and teased at her body until finally they had both cried out in their release. They spent a few more minutes afterwards just watching the night sky swirl above them, the full moon casting a calm and serene light upon them.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

It had been the most incredible night of his life, making love to Becca.

And now he had a son from that night.

Pyotr...little dark-haired Pyotr who had his mother's eyes and his father's smile.

"Hey! You okay kid?"

Pietro shook his head of the memory and focused back on Bucky.

"Yes?"

"I said, 'you okay, kid?'"

The young man nodded, "Of course I am. I was just remembering something."

"What?"

Pietro was blessedly saved from that awkward conversation by Steve knocking on the door frame, "It's time. Good luck."

"Thank you Captain. I will keep Becca there until you all show up. I promise."

And with a smirk and wink, Pietro was gone.

'Please be there, my love. For not only my sake, but Pyotr's as well.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Rebecca had crawled up a fire escape and broke into a seemingly empty apartment that looked like it had been abandoned. That meant one of two things: either the owner left on vacation or the owner had recently died. Either way it was blessedly welcome. She stumbled into the bathroom, tearing at the medicine cabinet in search of medical supplies. All she found were several shelves lined with a sparse collection of over the counter pills and one half tube of antibiotic ointment. She grabbed that and the bottle of pain relievers. She popped four in her mouth, swallowing them down with water from the sink.

She then turned to the closet, lightly gripping the handle when she heard a whooshing and then the sound of the lock jiggling on the front door. Her eyes narrowed in wariness at the sound.

Her good hand slowly pulled her pistol from it holster, cocking it quietly before lifting it as she stepped out from the bathroom.

The front door creaked open slowly and she swallowed the panic she felt.

In the dark of night it would be difficult for someone to see, but it was nothing for Becca. She threw open her eyes and let what little light she could flood into them.

At a glint of light on metal came into view, she squeezed the trigger, letting a few shots out.

Then there was a whoosh again and the bullets hit the wall behind them.

"We've played this game before, malen'kaya luna, haven't we? And you still missed me."

She dropped the gun to her side as relief flooded her at the all too familiar voice. "Piet? Is that you?"

"Yes, my love. Now cover your eyes for a moment. There's a light over here...ah ha...here it is."

All of a sudden bright light filled the room and she ducked her head, blocking her eyes. When the bright spots faded she looked up and smiled at the speedster standing across the room from her.

"Piet!" She surged forward and wrapped her arms around his middle, the pain in her shoulder long forgotten at the feel of his arms holding her close.

"It feels good to have you in my arms again, Becca. God I have missed you."

"I've missed you too."

He pulled her back to arms length and he sighed.

"My love, we need to...wait, is that...blood?! Are you hurt?"

She nodded, "Yes, but's it nothing serious. Believe me, I've had a hell of lot worse. Now what were you saying before?"

"Your shoulder..."

"Will be fine." She finished, "Now what were you saying?"

His jaw was clenched in anger and his hand shook as he traced her cheek.

"We need to talk, Becca."

"About what? In case you didn't know...I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment."

"Why didn't you tell me the real reason Strucker gave you to Viper?"

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it just as quickly. She tilted her head, looking at him confused and that's when it hit him.

Her mind had been wiped, so all the memories of Pyotr would have been repressed. She didn't remember being pregnant or having Pyotr.

'Damn you Viper.'

He pulled the phone from his pocket, found the video and placed it in her hands.

"We have a son, Becca. His name is Pyotr and Viper has him."

Becca swayed on the spot, black spots dancing across her vision. "S-son? Pyotr?"

At his nod, her eyes went shuttered and she fell forward into his arms unconscious from both the shock of blood loss and the news of her son.

"Becca?!"


	25. Let them Try

Bucky could tell that Syrena was nervous...very nervous. She only ever paced like she was when she was nervous.

He snorted to himself, she was nervous and he was confused. At thebeginning of all this he could barely recall what she looked like, he had only that grainy security footage to go by. But now...now he was starting to get more and more of his memories of her back but there was also a downfall to remembering her. It also brought back memories of those lonely, cold years without her as well and it filled him with uncontrollable rage.

He didn't-no COULDN'T lose those memories again. He would die before that happened again.

Those years after they were separated, he thrived on the pain they inflicted not knowing the real reason why...not until he felt Syrena's lips against his, then it was made all too clear that some deeply subconscious part of him still remembered her.

"Syrena, you should sit down, preferably before you wear a hole in the floor."

She stopped and turned her eyes on him and his breath caught in his throat. 'Had she always been this beautiful?'

She scoffed, but still sat down beside him on the couch.

"Shouldn't he be there by now? I mean he's supposed to be one of the fastest people alive, but we haven't heard from him yet."

He gently grabbed the hand closest to him and gently squeezed it. "He'll find her."

She softly smiled and laid her head on his metal shoulder. "There you go again...always so sure of everything, Moya Zvezda."

He momentarily froze at the nickname. 'My star'

/ / / / /

For days after their first kiss, she avoided him and it angered him. So much that the guards gave him a larger berth than normal, fearing that he would become destructive.

Finally on the fourth day he had had enough of her childish attitude and confronted her.

"You have been avoiding your training, why?"

She kept her back to him as she replied. "I thought it best to train with others to help advance my skills."

"You are lying."

She still didn't turn to face him.

He angrily grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. She looked down at her feet.

"Look at me!"

She still refused. He growled and pushed her back against the wall.

She still didn't look at him.

He was reeling from anger, but he held it in check, deciding a new tactic would work best.

"Look at me….please?"

She froze and slowly her eyes traveled from her feet up his body, causing heat to coil low in his abdomen. A tiny voice in his head whispered only one word over and over again.

'MINE.'

Then her eyes met his and he saw the heat that he knew was mirrored by his own. He knew that they were entering dangerous territory especially if command were to find out. They would kill her...perhaps even him as well.

He inwardly growled at the thought.

He pulled her snugly against him, pinning her there with his metal arm before lifting his other hand and tangling his fingers in her soft locks.

He could feel her breathing heavily against him. It caused something in him to lurch and his heart sped up. The tension between them was thick and they just stood there looking into each others' eyes.

The silence was broken when she spoke.

"They'll kill us if they find out and I can't lose you. You are all I have left, moya zvezda."

"Call me that again…"

She softly smiled, "Moya zvezda...my star-" Suddenly his lips crashed against hers, cutting her lip and drawing blood. They both groaned at the contact.

He pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers.

'Let them try."

She shook her head, "You definitely sound sure of your skills...:"

He grinned, strangely feeling like himself for the first time.

/ / / / /

He snapped back to reality at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Looking up he noticed Steve standing at the door, looking grim.

Syrena noticed his look too and stood up quickly, her hand still clasped in his.

"News?"

"He found her."

His chest tightened, "Whats wrong?"

"She's wounded and unconscious. He's bringing her here."


	26. Embrace

Pietro was worried about Becca….she had suffered from blood loss before so that shouldn't have caused her to pass out. She was one of the toughest woman he knew, aside from his sister of course.

Then when he lifted her in his arms...he realized the real reason she fainted. She was light...far too light to be healthy. He swallowed his rage and focused on setting her on the couch near them, grabbing a blanket and covering her legs with it. With a whoosh he was in the bathroom and he noticed the blood on the floor with a grimace.

He grabbed a towel and in an instant he was back at her side and pressing the towel against her wound.

With his free hand he pulled his com out of his pocket and activated it.

"Captain?"

The other line crackled and came to life.

"Pietro? Have you found her?"

"Yes, Captain, but there is a complication…she's wounded and needs medical attention immediately."

"Bring her back here. Syrena can take a look."

"Yes Captain."

The line suddenly went quiet as the com was turned off.

Pietro scanned the room and noticed the black dufflebag and nodded.

He caressed her cheek, emotion making him shake.

"My moondust, they will not hurt you again..."

The speedster lifted her into his arms and before he left, he swung the dufflebag onto his shoulder.

"Just let them try."

And with a whoosh he was gone, leaving behind nothing more than blood stains and a black mask.

/ / / / /

Syrena was nervous...she was about to see her daughter for the first time in nearly 18 years.

What did she look like? Did Becca have her eyes or her father's? Would she like her? Would her daughter understand that if she had had the choice, she would have stayed with her, but because of Hydra she couldn't.

What if-

A whoosh and the opening of a door pulled her attention away from the 'what ifs' and back to the present.

Bucky stepped right next to her and grabbed her hand, nodding to her.

"She's a tough gal...just like her mother."

Pietro walked sideways through the door, his eyes looked pained as he locked eyes with her.

Syrena acted immediately.

"Set her on the couch and I'll take care of the wound."

Pietro hesitated a moment until he remembered who was speaking. This was Becca's mother.

He nodded and gently set her on the couch, pausing long enough to brush her hair from her face.

"It's alright, moya lunnyy svet. You're safe."

He reluctantly moved back and that's when he remembered the dufflebag on his back.

Pietro shrugged it off and let it hit the floor with a loud thump.

A hand on his shoulder shifted his attention from Becca to her father.

The former assassin nodded to him, "Good job, kid."

The speedster gave a nod in return. Deep down...a small part of him was thrilled at the praise, but another part of him knew that he had more to prove to not only Bucky and Syrena but Becca as well.

And he wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

/ / / /

Syrena's chest hurt at the sight of her daughter. She was beautiful.

She was exactly as Pietro had described...pure moonlight.

As if she were blessed by the goddess Selene herself.

She wanted so badly to wrap her in her arms and just hold her but she had a wound to tend to first.

She glanced back at both the kid and Bucky and motioned to the door.

They both wordlessly nodded and left the room. Bucky paused for a moment, locking eyes with Syrena and sending a silent plea to her.

'Save our daughter..'

To which she smiled softly, 'She's safe.'

When the door clicked closed, she turned back to the couch and set to work.

She made quick work of removing the young woman's top, mentally noting the scars that littered her chest, filing the info away for later. Right now she had a wound to close.

She scanned the room and noticed a planter filled with a bush of beautiful tea roses. She nodded and quickly retrieved the planter.

"I am sorry my friend, but I need your help."

She plunged her fingers into the dirt and then pressed her free hand to the wound.

Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind, concentrating on knitting the wound closed.

Golden light slowly flowed up through her fingers, up her arm, snaking across her backand down her other arm, where it poured over the wound, seeping into it and knitting it closed.

As the golden light faded, she opened her eyes and looked thankfully at the plant, noticing the once green and lush plant was now wilted and brown.

"Thank you, my friend."

Now all she had to do was clean the blood from Becca's skin and wait for her to wake up.

She turned back to her daughter and was shocked to see silver eyes looking back at her.

'How is she awake already? This shouldn't be possible.'

Her voice shook as she spoke, "Becca?"

"Mother?"

Syrena's eyes filled with tears at the word and she nodded her head furiously.

Becca shot forward, wrapping her arms around her, making her freeze in shock.

Her arms shakily wrapped around her daughter's shoulders, finally holding her for the first time.

"My daughter. My beautiful little girl."


	27. The Here and Now

Bucky had quickly noticed the black dufflebag on the floor and against his conscious he knelt down and unzipped it.

"What's that?"

He didn't need to look up to answer Steve, "It's Becky's bag. The kid brought it back with her."

"What's in it?"

Bucky shook his head, pulling out two pistols, a ppg-9, a couple boxes of ammo, a handful of grenades, rope and a grappling hook, and to his surprise...about 20 knives as well.

Steve whistled, "She was definitely prepared for a battle."

His friend nodded.

"She didn't attack that base just to get back at Viper, she was gearing up. She was going to try and go after Viper by herself."

"Viper's a formidable opponent. She would've been killed attacking her."

Bucky stood suddenly, shaking his head furiously. "That's the problem….if Becky failed, Viper wouldn't have killed her. She doesn't want to. All she wants is her "weapon" back and if she does end up getting her hands on Becky again…." He trailed off.

"We'll never find her again, right?"

The look on his friend's face was confirmation enough.

"If it looks like Viper's going to win…"

He fell silent when Wanda walked into the room causing Steve to ponder the implications of what his friend didn't say. He had a sinking feeling that if Viper did win that Bucky would do the unthinkable. It sent a cold chill down his spine.

If that happened, Bucky would never recover.

'I won't let that happen, Buck. We are going to win. We have to.'

Something had made Wanda pause by the door, causing her to turn and smile brightly at Bucky.

"Sergeant, I think you better go in there."

He looked at her confused, but she wouldn't elaborate any further.

Bucky shook his head at her mysteriousness.

Cap placed a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him.

"Go. I'll let you know if anything pops up. Plus I think it would be good if you were there when she woke up."

He nodded and moved to stand before the door, his hand stilled on the doorknob and he turned his eyes to Pietro, who smiled and nodded.

"Go on. She's your daughter after all."

He turned the handle and opened the door and closed it behind him, noticing the close proximity of both Syrena and Becky, mother and daughter finally reunited.

Becky was just as beautiful as her mother, noting the similarities between the two immediately. He just stood there at the door watching the two of them hug, a warm smile playing on his lips.

He hadn't made a sound standing there but still his presence hadn't gone unnoticed by the two.

Syrena gave a watery smile but Becky had another reaction altogether. She immediately jumped off the couch and threw a swing at him, which he caught with relative ease. He didn't respond, but his eyes narrowed to slits.

Syrena yelped, jumping in shock at how fast Becky moved. She moved like lightning, quick and merciless.

Having her hand caught didn't stop Becky from slamming her other fist into his jaw and rocking his head to the side. It hurt Bucky to see this reaction from her but knowing how her last encounter with the Winter Soldier had went, he had half expected it.

But it still didn't stop him from being impressed. 'Damn.'

"That's one hell of a punch kid."

"U menya byl odin ad uchitel'."

He winced at the Russian that flowed effortlessly from her lips, but it still didn't stop his reply.

"YA predpochitayu 'batya'." He released the hand that was encased in his metal fist at the same time taking a step back and raising his hand in a surrendering motion.

She took a step back shaking her head, her hands still raised defensively. "I have only known you as teacher and in that time there was no joking, no smiling, no coddling. No 'batya'. There was only pain."

He winced. "Well, times change, kid and people change with them. I'm not who I once was."

Her fists dropped to her sides but he noted that the tension had still not left her shoulders. She was still hesitant around him and his chest ached at that the thought.

"Then in time we'll see how much the both of us have really changed."

Syrena breathed a sigh of relief at those words, but she noted that Becky was hesitant to sit back down.

Bucky was just as tense but nervous as well although he didn't show it outright, she could still see the signs.

"How are you feeling? The kid said you lost a lot of blood."

Becca looked at him confused at first and then it clicked and she smiled softly.

"You mean Pietro, right?"

He nodded, a splinter of jealousy fracturing through his chest at her reaction to the speedster.

"He's the one that brought me here...to you two?"

Again he nodded.

"Where is he? I have to talk to him."

"About Pyotr?"

At that name, she took a step back and her legs hit the edge of the couch, causing her to sit down suddenly.

"Pyotr?" She sounded confused for a moment before she tilted her head up and gave a smile.

"...Yes, Pyotr's my son. I-I don't...I don't remember him. How can I not remember him?!"

Bucky's chest ached and he could see Syrena holding back tears at her words.

He closed his eyes at the sight and after a heartbeat opened them again. He knew what he had to do.

The former assassin turned and opened the door, motioning to Syrena to follow him.

When the door closed behind them, He looked up and immediately locked eyes with Pietro.

He nodded and motioned to the door.

The speedster looked hesitant, "Are you sure?"

"She's just starting to get to know us. It'll help to have someone she knows. She's torn up over Pyotr and seeing as the little guy's yours too...I figured you both needed to talk...privately. We are all going to need level heads if we want to beat Viper at her own game."

Steve noticed the red mark on his friend's jaw face and shot him a questioning look to which Bucky just shook his head before turning his eyes back to Pietro.

The young man looked from Bucky to Syrena, who just smiled and shook her head.

"You'll get no arguement from me. She needs you, go to her."

Pietro gave a curt nod before walking to the door, opening and closing it behind him.

/ / / / /

Becky looked up sharply at the door closing and smiled sadly.

"Moy vikhr."

Pietro grinned, "It feels good to hear that nickname again, little moon."

He noticed how she was constantly fiddling with her hand and he knelt down in front of her and placed his hands over hers.

She dropped her eyes to look at their hands clasped together and shook her head.

"I didn't-I didn't know. About Pyotr….I mean..I can't remember."

He had seen this side of her only twice before and knew that if he didn't defuse this, she would crash so he did the only thing he could.

"He's a beautiful boy. He has your eyes and my smile." 'as well as my speed,' but he omitted that info for the moment.

Becky's eyes shot to him and he nodded.

"I-we were sent a file with a video of him, but it wasn't..."

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "You said that Viper has him, is that right?"

His silence said it all and she growled in response.

"I'm going to kill her. I'm going to hook her up to that damn machine she used on me and then I will rip her throat out with my teeth if need be."

Pietro winced at her words but he knew if anyone could pull it off, it would be her.

She was so angry she was shaking in her seat. He had to get her mind on something else other than her promise of Viper's death.

"Moya malen'kaya luna, Viper will pay for her crimes, but for now we need to focus on Pyotr. He needs us..he needs you. He needs his mother."

She smiled softly at him, lifting her hands to trace his features again.

"Our son."

Pietro smiled widely at that statement and opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by lips pressing against his.

Her kiss shocked him but he soon shook it off and tangled his hands in her hair, pulling her down into his lap. She threw her arms around his shoulders as their kiss deepened.

A part of him was thrilled at kissing her again another part knew this was not the time nor the place for this to go any further. They still had to save their son and stop Viper.

So he reluctantly pulled back from her, letting a groan slip at the loss of contact.

"My love, as much as I would love for this 'reunion' to happen, we can't. Viper is still out there and she has our son as well. We must think of him first."

She pressed her forehead into his neck and sighed. "You're right, Piet. Pyotr comes first."

He wrapped his arms around her and sighed happily.

His beloved was back in his arms for the moment but he knew that fate could throw a cruel twist in their path at any time.


	28. The Scariest Part is Letting Go

I know that we're both afraid

We both made the same mistakes...

And in the wind there's a heavy choice

Love has a quiet voice

Still your mind, now I'm yours to choose...

Let my love by the light that guides you home..."

-Christina Perri - The Words

/ / / / /

Wanda smiled at the feeling of contentment that flowed through the link with her brother. She was happy that he was reunited with his love once again, but there was also a thread of sorrow that trickled through making her frown.

'Pyotr…Pietro's son, her nephew was still in Viper's clutches and she knew that both her brother and Becca would never be able to heal until he was rescued.

She sent a glance to Barnes and Syrena…'Neither would they.'

The tiny seed of loneliness within her heart took root and her thoughts turned to a man with scarlet skin and shockingly blue eyes and her eyes stung and her chest hurt.

She missed his presence greatly in that moment.

During the time that Pietro was recovering she had felt so lost and then he appeared.

'Like some sort of knight in scarlet armor…'

She smiled at that thought.

/ / / / /

 _Wanda stood at the window staring at the motionless body of her brother on the other side. He was hooked up to so many machines and it hurt to see him so still._

 _It wasn't like him at all._

 _'Please wake up my brother...I need you.'_

 _"You seemed distressed, Ms. Maximoff."_

 _She jumped and spun towards the source of the voice to find Vision with his hands held up, palms facing her._

 _"I apologize. I did not mean to startle you."_

 _She pressed her hand to her chest, hoping to calm her racing heart._

 _"I will admit I wasn't paying attention, so part of it is my fault."_

 _Vision nodded, "Still I apologize, Miss Maximoff. I had only meant to help. You are worried about your brother, aren't you?"_

 _She hesitated to answer. A part of her still didn't trust him, this mysterious being that Ultron helped to create, but another part of her felt this pull, this connection to him. She reached out to that connection and only felt warmth and understanding...and a little hesitancy as well._

 _Was he nervous?_

 _She gave a small smile at that._

 _"The doctors say that he is healing at an accelerated rate, but he still hasn't woken up. And-"_

 _"And you feel that this isn't like him at all and that is what worries you…"_

 _She was shocked and it must have shown on her face because he quickly touched the glowing jewel in his forehead._

 _"I had felt your mind reach out to mine and had assumed...I..ahh...am sorry for intruding on your thoughts, Miss Maximoff. It will not happen again. I had only wanted to convey that your brother is healthy and he will wake up soon. You must have faith, Miss Maximoff."_

 _She smiled again. She found it so easy to smile around him and she had only known him for a week. "Thank you...and you can call me Wanda, you know. All my friends call me Wanda."_

 _He paused for a moment, "Are we friends?"_

 _She nodded, her smile widening at the question._

 _He nodded back, "Very well, Miss...ahh..Wanda."_

 _She turned back to the window happily and stood there silently, Vision at her side a comforting presence._

 _It was then she had an idea and she turned back to him._

 _"Well if you can call me Wanda...what do I call you? I can't call you Vision all the time now can I?"_

 _He cocked his head at her words, thoroughly confused by her question._

 _"What other name would you call me by? Vision is my name."_

 _She laughed, "Well, friends tend to give each other nicknames. Names that represent something about you to them."_

 _"And you wish to give me such a name?"_

 _Wanda hesitated to answer again. What sort of name would she choose? What name would fit a being..a man such as Vision? Then it came to her and she smiled brightly._

 _"Vizh. I think I'll call you Vizh."_

 _He looked thoughtfully at her for a moment and then nodded, "Ahh, yes the Bulgarian word for 'behold'. It...is acceptable. Thank you, Wanda."_

 _"You're welcome, Vizh."_

 _That was the first time she had ever seen him smile and it made her heart skip a beat._

 _She felt a warmth within her mind and instead of pushing it away again, she reached out to it and returned it with her own._

 _/ / / / /_

She longed for that warmth, that solidarity within her mind again. She wiped a single tear from her cheek.

'Oh Vizh…'

/ / / / /

Far away, blue eyes snapped open at the faint caress of words across their mind and they smiled sadly.

'Wanda..'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /

Becky's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions as she thought of her son.

'Pyotr…'

And Viper has had him this whole time.

She pulled back into a kneeling position and traced Pietro's face, smiling sadly, "This hasn't gone the way I thought it would, at all."

"What do you mean?"

"I had thought that I could free myself from Viper and then you run into my life again this time with both mother and batya and I'm happy again.. Then you tell me about Pyotr and it gets complicated yet again."

Pietro looked at her confused, "What's so complicated about it? When we rescue Pyotr, we can be a family, you, me, Pyotr, and your mother and father. We can have a future together like we had planned three years ago."

She frowned at that and stood up, turning from him and facing the window.

Pietro stood as well and placed his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong, beloved?"

"It was a dream, Piet...nothing more than a dream. I know that now. I was a fool to think I could be free from her."

Before the speedster could react, she turned and slammed her fist into his jaw, and he crumpled, instantly unconscious. She caught him before he could hit the floor and sat him gently on the couch.

She leaned over and kissed his lips, "I'm so sorry, but I can't let her get her hands on you too. Goodbye, moy vikhr."

She stood, giving him one last look before throwing the window open and slipping out quietly with only one thought on her mind…

'I will free my son, no matter what.'

/ / / / /

The shock of pain made her gasp and Wanda jolted out of her seat towards the door.

Bucky caught her arm before she could touch the doorknob.

"Whoa, where are you going?"

"I felt pain from my brother. Something's wrong...very wrong."

The former assassin closed his eyes in pain, "No...Becky."

He released Wanda and dove for the door, flinging it open to find an unconscious Pietro on the couch and a open window.

She was gone.

Steve immediately jumped into action, pointing to Sam, "I need eyes in the sky, now."

Bucky said nothing as he walked slowly to the window, placing a hand against the frame, "Don't bother. We all know where she's going."

"Viper?"

Syrena shook her head, "But alone? She won't be able to defeat her by herself."

It was at that moment that Rogers knew exactly what Rebecca was planning and his heart dropped.

"She's not planning on fighting Viper. She's going to trade herself for Pyotr, isn't she Buck?"

His friend's silence was answer enough.

'Well, damn…'

/ / / / /

Scott had never been one to really think things through which led to some problems from time to time, but he was proud of himself for his split second decision.

You see, the captain had an inkling that something would happen when the girl found out about her son and man was Cap right.

"You okay over there, Hope?"

"Yeah, but god can this girl move."

He shook his head, "You do realize we're hitching a ride on the same human being right?"

"Scott…"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and send a message to the Captain. He"ll need to be updated."

"Ohh, yeah...right."

/ / / / /

The captain's phone beeped indicating a message so he flipped his phone open and breathed a sigh of relief at what he read.

"It seems we have luck on our side after all."

Syrena whirled on him in anger, "What in the hell do you mean by that?!"

Steve held his phone up. "Antman and Wasp have hitched a ride on Becky. Once Becky is found and taken to Viper…."

Bucky laughed and shook his head, "We'll know the location of Viper's base. We'll be able to go after them."

Syrena laughed, "Hell yeah. Let's do this."

"Together." Bucky added.

"As a team." Wanda interjected.

"No," Steve smiled.

"As Avengers."


	29. Whirlwinds

Pietro groaned as he came too. His jaw ached. She definitely hit harder than she used to.

'Wait...oh no…'

He bolted up right, ice filling his veins when his eyes failed to locate Becca anywhere in the room. He shifted his gaze to the window where Bucky stood. Bucky shook his head.

"She's gone."

His heart sank. He grabbed his head with a frustrated groan.

"She going back to Viper, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"Damn it! We were so damn close!" Electricity crackled and whipped around him like a whirlwind, so fast that the couch tipped over with a loud thud.

Bucky's eyes widened, 'Damn, kid.'

Steve quickly spoke, his voice calm and still. "We can go after her, Pietro. Scott and Hope-"

"And just where are they, Captain? They sure in the hell aren't here, now are they?"

He just grinned and shook his head, "If you could let me finish, I'd be able to tell you that their hitching a ride on Becky."

The dawning realization in Pietro's eyes made Bucky chuckle.

'Yeah, kid. I've had a few of those moments myself...during WWII of course.'

"Do you always plan so ahead, Captain?"

Steve rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, not really. I usually end up winging it in the end."

Bucky couldn't help himself and he laughed for the first time in what seems like forever. Which causes Steve to still until he finally chuckles.

'It feels good to laugh, even if it is for just a moment.'

/ / / / /

Dr. Pym pulled back from the microscope with a grimace. He had thought the crazy ants dying so suddenly was rather strange...

'I know someone who had a collar put on them…'

Pietro's question about the collar haunted him.

If it was the same collar that he had seen in Viper's possession before than it was bad news...very bad news.

He pulled up the warehouse footage and watched it, starting from the moment Rebecca arrived. He replayed it a few times when something odd catches his eye and he enhances the footage...focusing on the speedster and the girl. He enhances it once more, zeroing in on the collar around her neck, he watched it blink red once, then twice, and then turn green.

Like it was remotely activated.

The pieces within his brain clicked into place and he immediately rewound the footage, replaying it at half speed and then one quarter speed.

The light turned green just after she spoke to Pietro.

But just that collar alone shouldn't have been enough to cause the convulsions he saw.

That made him pause and he pulled up a locked file in his computer's data bank.

He hesitated momentarily, his hand shaking over the mouse. He took a deep breath and then double clicked on it.

"Voice recognition required."

His voice shook as he gave the answer. "Janet."

"Voice recognition verified."

The file only confirmed his suspicions and he immediately hit his com.

'Damn it.'

/ / / / /

"Captain?"

Steve activated his com, "Hank? You have something?"

"Yeah and you're not going to like it."

"Go ahead."

"I did some digging and found something...something bad. You remember the collar that was on Rebecca when she attacked us?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"If I'm right, that device was remotely activated by Viper but that wasn't the cause of her seizure…"

There was silence followed by the clicking of keys and Steve's phone buzzed.

Steve opened the file and looked at the small mechanical device with wires sticking out of it, thoroughly confused.

"What are we looking at here, Hank?"

"That is what caused her seizure, Captain. It's a delivery system...more than likely for a virus."

"A virus?!" Bucky yelled.

"Apparently Viper wasn't just training your daughter to be an assassin, Sergeant Barnes. She was also using her enhanced genetics to perfect an extremely fatal biological weapon. One that could be carried inside 'soldiers' like Rebecca and then activated once they were in a location of optimal impact. That's where the collar comes in."

Bucky grimaced, "It's a remote trigger."

"Precisely."

"But if it was activated in the warehouse, why didn't we get infected?"

Pym was quick to answer, "It was more than likely a test run to see if Rebecca's body could handle its activation. Since she's still alive, I'd say the test was unfortunately a success."

"Could there have been any chance of the device not working in the first place?"

"I don't know, Captain. I would have to have the device in front of me to answer that."

"Just how do you know all this, Hank?"

"Let an old man keep some secrets, Captain."

Pietro then remembered the orange ants blanketing her.

"Wait! What about the ants, those little orange ones of yours...they gave off an electrical charge right? Wouldn't that have broken the device?"

"Yes, or at least disabled it enough to need repairing."

Steve jumped at that, "So she's either going to try and fix the device in her, or put a new one in. That's a procedure that will take time. Our top priority now is getting there before they can place the device, and destroy any and all documents, computer files and backups…"

He pointed to Bucky and Syrena, "You two will go after Becky. Wanda, you're their failsafe, alright? If it looks bad, "suggest" Viper's goons to leave you alone."

"Pietro, your job will be to place charges at key locations around the base. Dr. Pym, send a message to Scott and Hope...see if they can get a hold of schematics to help him."

"Yes, Captain."

"Alright, everyone...suit up!"


	30. Favors and Moonlight

**I listened to 'Sunder' by Really Slow Motion for this chapter.**

* * *

It seemed like they had been traveling for days with all how much he was being jostled about.

Scott shook his head, 'Note to self: Never do this again.'

He hit his comm, "Hey, how ya holding up, Hope?"

"As well as could be expected with all this turbulence. You?"

He shrugged, losing grip for a split second. When he scrambled back to a safe position, he grumbled.

"I feel like I swallowed a entire can of Mexican jumping beans. Not a good feeling."

The comms crackled to life and instead of Hope's voice, he heard Hank's.

"Scott? Hope? You there?"

"Hi Hank. Yeah, you know, just hanging in there."

"Shut up Scott and listen. When you get to Viper's base you need to transmit your location. We're upping the timetable."

"Did you find something dad?" Hope asked.

"Yeah and its not good. Apparently the collar was just an activation device for a delivery system located inside Miss Barnes."

Scott didn't like the sound of that. "Uhh...I take it your not talking about pizza here, are you Hank?"

"No. Its for a virus. The very same virus my wife and I tried to stop from being deployed."

"So the nuclear missile was just a front."

"Yes, Hope. If your mother hadn't sacrificed herself that day: if it had actually hit its target, the fallout would've been far worse than anything radiation would have done."

"So the Avengers save the day thing again, huh?"

"I actually have another thing to ask you two to do, Scott."

"What is that?"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Becca came to a skidding halt in the abandoned warehouse. Her chest heaved and her lungs burned from both the exertion of running for as long as she had and exhaustion for not resting enough.

She collapsed to the ground and just laid there on her back noticing the silvery waves of white lights swirling through the black.

Moonlight. That's what those silvery white swirls were. The black was the parts of the warehouse roof that had yet to rust away.

This was it. This was where every hope of freedom for herself died.

Her cheeks felt wet and she reached a shaky hand to touch the wetness and realized she was crying.

She shook her head. Her freedom didn't matter anymore. Only Pyotr's did.

"I'm sorry, Piet. I'm sorry mama. I'm s-so sorry, batya."

She closed her eyes and thought about the dream she had had since she met Pietro.

Walking freely through an open field with Pietro, but this time there was a little boy riding on his shoulders, giggling at the butterflies swirling around their heads.

She smiled as she fell into a deep sleep.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Viper sat there watching the newest video footage of her ace in the sleeve.

At the crack of blue lightning she grinned. "Still so young but already showing so much promise. You will be a great soldier one day, little Pyotr. Then no one will stand in my way. Least of all your mother and father. They will break under my heels."

A knock sounded at her office door and she snarled.

"What is it?! And it better be good."

The door opened to reveal a scientist shaking in fear, "Madame Hydra, w-we-"

"Oh, spit it out already!"

"We found her, Ma'am."

Viper's smile widened to show her sharpened teeth. "Send a full team to pick her up. Tell them that force will not be necessary. She will come willingly."

"Yes, ma'am." The scientist nodded his head before quickly closing the door behind him.

"Well, well, Pyotr, it seems your mother understands reason quite well. And she seems to think that by coming back willingly that it will save you from a great future in HYDRA. Ha! She knows nothing. And once I am done with her, she will continue to know nothing but the orders I give her! With both you and my volchitsa I will have the necessary tools to crush these pathetic Avengers once and for all!"

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Steve looked over to Bucky and noticed the grim look on his face.

"Buck?"

When his friend looked up he took a step back.

"If Becky gets put into surgery as soon as she's there, we won't be able to stop the re-conditioning. She'll be a weapon again, Steve. And I have a bad feeling that this time it will damn near impossible to break it. If it comes to that..."

"It won't Buck."

The former assassin growled and punched the wall nearest him and leaving a large hole behind.

"You don't know that. You don't know what they are capable of. What SHE is capable of. If it looks like we're not going to get her back...I want you to blow everything.."

"We're doing that already." Pietro answered.

Bucky shook his head. "I want you to blow everything...including Becky."

His head snapped to the side from Pietro's punch.

'Saw that coming kid.'

"You bastard, how can you say that and about your own daughter! I haven't given up hope yet and you damn well shouldn't either! We will save her."

Bucky stalked towards the speedster and growled in his face. "They will comb over every inch of her mind and wipe every single thing away. She won't be Becca anymore. So how can you still have hope?"

"The moon is shining in the night sky. Its silvery light a blanket for those wayward travelers lost in the dark."

Those words made everyone still and turn to the window where Syrena was sitting on the sill looking out into the night sky.

"'A promise that the sun will return with the dawn.'" Bucky added, his voice wavering.

She smiled softly and nodded to Bucky.

"We are now that dawn, Moya zvezda. We will make sure the sun rises for her once more and then every day after that. All of us."

She stood up and looked right in Bucky's eyes and she walked up to him. She laid a hand on his cheek and whispered fiercely, "Now let's go save our daughter and grandson."


End file.
